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No description available.

We analyze data from the South African Stress and Health Study, a nationally representative in-person psychiatric epidemiologic survey of 4,351 adults conducted as part of the World Mental Health Survey Initiative between January 2002 and June 2004. All blacks (Africans, Coloreds, and Indians) initially report higher levels of non-specific distress and anger/hostility than whites. Access to socioeconomic resources helps explain differences in non-specific distress between Coloreds and whites and Indians and whites. However, only when social stressors are considered do we find few differences in psychological distress (i.e., non-specific distress and anger/hostility) between Africans and whites. In addition, self-esteem and mastery have independent effects on non-specific distress and anger/hostility, but differences between Coloreds and whites in feelings of anger/hostility are not completely explained by self-esteem and mastery. The findings contribute to the international body of work on social stress theory, challenge underlying assumptions of the minority status perspective, and raise a series of questions regarding mental health disparities among South Africans.

Using nationally representative data from South Africa, we examine lifetime prevalence of traumas and multiple traumas (number of events). Employing multiple regression analysis, the authors study the sociodemographic risk of trauma, and the association between trauma and distress. Results indicate most South Africans experience at least one traumatic event during their lives, with the majority reporting multiple. Consistent variation in risk is evident for gender and marital status, but not other sociodemographics. Trauma is positively related to high distress, and findings also support a cumulative effect of trauma exposure. Individuals with the most traumas (6+) appear at 5 times greater risk of high distress. This study highlights the importance of considering traumatic events in the context of other traumas in South Africa.

Unexpected events, particularly those creating surprise, interrupt ongoing mental and behavioral processes, creating an increased potential for unwanted outcomes to the situation. Human reactions to unexpected events vary. One can hypothesize a number of reasons for this variation, including level of domain expertise, previous experience with similar events, emotional connotation, and the contextual surround of the event. Whereas interrupting ongoing activities and focusing attention temporarily on a surprising event may be a useful evolutionary response to a threatening situation, the same process may be maladaptive in today's highly dynamic world. The purpose of this study was to investigate how different aspects of expertise affected one's ability to detect and react to an unexpected event. It was hypothesized that there were two general types of expertise, domain expertise and judgment (Hammond, 2000), which influenced one's performance on dealing with an unexpected event. The goal of the research was to parse out the relative contribution of domain expertise, so the role of judgment could be revealed. The research questions for this study were: (a) Can we identify specific knowledges and skills which enhance one's ability to deal with unexpected events? (b) Are these skills "automatically" included in domain expertise? (c) How does domain expertise improve or deter one's reaction and response to unexpected events? (d) What role does judgment play in responding to surprise? The general hypothesis was that good judgment would influence the process of surprise at different stages and in different ways than would domain expertise. The conclusions from this research indicated that good judgment had a significant positive effect in helping pilots deal with unexpected events. This was most pronounced when domain expertise was low.

This study, framed in the criminal events perspective, investigates situational and contextual factors of violent interpersonal encounters that impact the likelihood of offender weapon usage and, when a weapon is used, the likelihood that it will be a firearm. Furthermore, this study examines the effects that weapons have on levels of victim injury along with other factors that may impact injury independent of weapon use. Three specific topics of interest are addressed: whether or not black offenders were more likely to make use of a firearm, what factors impact firearm use amongst female offenders, and if the findings of Kleck and McElrath (1991), which stated that firearm use largely prevents injury, but when victim injury does occur, it is more likely to be lethal, could be replicated using a more recent and comprehensive source of information. Data were collected from the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Findings were that black offenders were more likely to use firearms, but this pattern is essentially limited to black male offenders. Female offenders were more likely to use a firearm against a stranger and during the course of a robbery. Finally, firearm use was associated with a decrease in the likelihood of a victim suffering nonlethal injury, but when injury did occur, firearms significantly increased the chances of victim death. Theoretical and policy implications and suggestions for future research are also discussed.

This thesis explores the design of landscapes for celebration. These celebrations include all types of events or rituals that mark special times in people's lives. The focus of this work is landscapes for weddings. The goal is to illuminate the importance of these spaces for celebration as well as reveal how landscape architectural design can have a profound influence on how these places are perceived by the user and their experience of their celebration. These events have characteristics that set them apart from everyday activities and these elements can be enhanced by design. There are shared qualities among landscapes for celebration that draw people and make the place meaningful, these are compiled into a sort of set of design principles for these spaces. The structure of the event, both physically and psychologically, can be enhanced by design to add more meaning to the experience of the participants. Through literature review on ritual, sacred spaces, and ritual spaces information is gathered to inform the design. Case studies of celebratory landscapes and powerful places are also performed to gather knowledge. Through this investigation a set of design principles is collected, and then applied to a wedding garden design. Thoughtful design, incorporating knowledge of ritual, ritual structure, and the event being designed for, will create places that support and enhance one in a lifetime events. Design of celebratory landscapes should strive to create spaces that are meaningful, rooted in the community, supportive of the structure of the event, and reflective of the participants. / Master of Landscape Architecture

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<p>Structural walls in existing buildings designed to pre 1970s codes may have deficient shear reinforcement and lap splice detailing. Lap splices at the bottom of the walls were designed in compression with anchorage length of 24-bar diameter. When the structural wall is subjected to lateral loads during a major seismic event, the lap splice is in the zone of maximum moment and shear and may be subjected to tension. Such design may cause nonductile behaviour and sudden failure of the wall due to shear or bond slip of the lap splice reinforcing bars. The effect of shear and ductility rehabilitation on the behaviour of reinforced concrete structural walls, without lap splice, have shown improvement in the structural wall shear resistance and ductility and hence overall structural ductility and seismic loads resistance. Research on rehabilitation of reinforced concrete (RC) structural walls with both deficient shear reinforcement and lap splice detailing is still needed. </p> <p> The principal objectives of this study were to evaluate the seismic behaviour of non-ductile reinforced concrete structural walls before and after rehabilitation using carbon fibre reinforced polymers (CFRP). These objectives were achieved through experimental and analytical investigations.</p> <p> The experimental phase of this research involved testing large scale models of RC structural walls with deficient shear strength and lap splice detailing to reproduce failure modes observed following major seismic events and to evaluate the rehabilitation schemes. Ten RC structural walls were built and tested under cyclic loading. Three control walls were tested as-built with non-ductile detailing and seven walls were rehabilitated before testing. The purpose of the rehabilitation techniques was to prevent brittle failure in shear or bond slip and to improve the ductility and energy dissipation of RC structural walls.</p> <p> The analytical phase of this study involved evaluation of the inelastic dynamic response of RC residential building with nonductile structural walls as well as retrofitted walls. An efficient macroscopic model to represent the behaviour of RC structural walls when subjected to pushover, cyclic and dynamic seismic loads was developed. The proposed model was intended to adequately describe the hysteretic behaviour of walls and to be capable of accurately predicting both flexural and shear components of inelastic deformation. The model predictions were compared with the experimental results. The comparisons showed that the developed analytical model predicted the inelastic walls response with a good accuracy. The analytical model was capable to evaluate the nonlinear dynamic behaviour of an existing building under seismic excitation before and after rehabilitation.</p> / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Some claim that when an agent does something, their action should be treated as a particular event. However, a challenge to this has it that if we understand agency through the category particular event, then we must also deploy another, process, because we act in the present but particular events can only exist in the past. In this paper, I show how this argument can be resisted, but suggest that consideration of it should nevertheless lead one to adopt a conception of events which reflects the idea that intentional action involves self-known change. We thus get into focus how understanding agency in terms of events involves attending to the interaction between the nature of events, the metaphysics of tense, and our epistemological situation as agents.