Since mindless actions of the South African society persist in the form of environmentally degrading behaviour, the sustainability of healthy eco-systems is constantly threatened. Practical ways of acquiring environmental literacy is necessary to develop environmental responsible behaviour of citizens. Theory-based research on nature-based extreme sports participation rarely acknowledges its positive transformative value on society. This neglect roots, in part, from naïve or novice misconceptions that motives for participation are primarily risk-focused in pursuit of an adrenaline rush. Thrill-seeking theories often make anthropocentric assumptions of a rivalry human-nature relationship to showcase individual prowess. As a result, “extreme” is naïvely associated with “out-of-control” or “reckless” actions. Phenomenological traditions from Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty navigate a hermeneutical understanding of a bodily-being-towards-death in such high-risk sports activities. This interpretative phenomenological analytical study considers the lived experiences of 10 expert South African nature-based extreme sports participants who take calculate risks. Their first-hand narrations provide evidence, which derails the naïve stigma and identify voluntary high risk-taking as a by-product of participation. For some, the extensive period of time spent in the wilderness, where their survival depends on the collaboration with natural elements enable a realization that humanity is part of a larger functioning network. Findings from semi-structured interviews present an eco-centric outlook on the facilitative role of participation, in eco-sensitivity. Flow and mindfulness are recognised as contributing factors in the display of pro-environmental behaviour of nature-based extreme sports participants. How participation encourages an intimate bond with and sensitivity of nature, which permits a setting for extraordinary physical and psychological changes, is explored. From this study, eco-centric management principles can be discovered and its educational principles incorporated within schools and sport organizations to become more ecologically sensitive and just. / Dissertstion (MA (Human Movement Science))--University of Pretoria, 2019. / Biokinetics, Sport and Leisure Sciences / MA (Human Movement Science) / Unrestricted

1 Abstract My master's thesis is focused on analysis of extraordinary appeal in criminal procedure. Extraordinary appeal is one of extraordinary remedial measures which was introduced into the Czech Criminal Procedure Code with effect from 1 January 2002. The thesis is devided into 6 chapters and the main chapter of the thesis is focused on in-depth analysis of the grounds of an extraordinary appeal and the issue of so called extreme discrepancy. So far, the issue of so called extreme discrepancy has not yet been subject to in-depth analysis in professional literature, therefore I pay more attention to this matter. The importance of so called extreme discrepancy is significant for the Supreme Court of the Czech Republic and its decisions. It is a concept arising from the case law of the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic, which extends the grounds of an extraordinary appeal despite the grounds laid down in the Czech Criminal Procedure Code. Based on this concept the Supreme Court of the Czech Republic is obliged not only to review questions of law but also questions of fact in cases with so called extreme discrepancy. The Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic defends this concept saying it is neccessary to keep this approach in order to respect the fair trail within the meaning of the European...

京都大学 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(工学) / 甲第23164号 / 工博第4808号 / 新制||工||1752(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院工学研究科社会基盤工学専攻 / (主査)教授 立川 康人, 准教授 KIM SUNMIN, 教授 中北 英一 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering) / Kyoto University / DFAM

The thesis deals with extreme value distributions and censored samples. Theoretical part describes a maximum likelihood method, types of censored samples and introduce a extreme value distributions. In the thesis are derived likelihood equations for censored samples from exponential, Weibull, lognormal, Gumbel and generalized extreme value distribution. For these distributions are also derived asymptotic interval estimates and is made simulation studies on the dependence of the parameter estimate on the percentage of censoring.

The event of a default for low-default portfolios, such as sovereign debt or banks, have received much attention as a result of the increasing instabilities in financial markets. The lack of sufficient default information on low-default portfolios complicates the protection of such portfolios. Default protections have typically, in the past, relied on extreme value theory and reporting the value at risk. The focus here, is the application of an engineering concept, accelerated test techniques, to the problem of insufficient data on low-default portfolios. In the application, high-default portfolios serve as stressed cases of low-default portfolios. Since high-default portfolios have more data available, viewing it as a stressed case of a low-default portfolio enables us to extrapolate the data to the low-default portfolio environment, and do estimation such as estimating the default probability for a low-default portfolio. The flexible framework through which the above is achieved, is provided. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2016. / Statistics / MSc / Unrestricted

The ionospheric response to solar extreme ultraviolet (EUV) variability during 2011–2014 is shown by simple proxies based on Solar Dynamics Observatory/Extreme Ultraviolet Variability Experiment solar EUV spectra. The daily proxies are compared with global mean total electron content (TEC) computed from global TEC maps derived from Global Navigation Satellite System dual frequency measurements. They describe about 74% of the intra-seasonal TEC variability. At time scales of the solar rotation up to about 40 days there is a time lag between EUV and TEC variability of about one day, with a tendency to increase for longer time scales.

Present thesis deals with the multivariate extreme value theory. First, concepts of modelling block maxima and threshold excesses in the univariate case are reviewed. In the multivariate setting the point process approach is chosen to model dependence. The dependence structure of multivariate extremes is provided by a spectral measure or an exponent function. Models for asymptotically dependent variables are provided. A construction principle from Ballani and Schlather (2011) is discussed. Based on this discussion the pairwise beta model introduced by Cooley et al. (2010) is modified to provide higher flexibility. Models are applied to data from nine hydrological stations from northern Moravia previously analysed by Jarušková (2009). Usage of the new pairwise beta model is justified as it brought a substantial improvement of log-likelihood. Models are also compared with Bayesian model selection introduced by Sabourin et al. (2013). Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

The contributions of this thesis have mainly a dual purpose: introducing several multivariate statistical methodologies where in the major of the cases only stationary of the random variables is assumed, and also highlight some of the applied problems in risk management where extreme value theory may play a role. Mostly every chapter is selfcontained, they have its own more detailed introduction and short conclusion. / Die Kontributionen von dieser Dissertation haben ein doppeltes Ziel: die Darstellung von vielen multivariaten statistischen Verfahren, wobei in der Mehrheit der Fälle nur Stationarität von den Zufallsvariablen angenommen wurde, und die Anwendungen in Risikomanagement in welchem Extremwerttheorie eine wichtige Rolle spielen könnte. Die Struktur der Arbeit ist eigenständig, mit einer detaillierten Einführung und kurzen Zusammenfassung in jedem Kapitel.

Nowadays actors within the business context are presented with a vast menu of different ideas which they can potentially adopt. This begs the question why actors choose to adopt a specific idea out of all the other available options. Our study explores the theoretical topic concerning travel of ideas, through the empirical context of leaders who practice extreme athleticism. The research question is: How and why do leaders adopt the idea of extreme athleticism? To answer this question, we assort several theoretical insights into six themes that are foremost predicated upon Scandinavian institutionalist contributions. The six themes are translation, previous practices, strategic purposes, fashion, legitimacy, and field, which is synthesised into a novel conceptual framework to help us understand how and why actors adopt an idea. The study is qualitative and collects data from 12 semi-structured interviews and 48 newspaper articles. Our main finding is that each of the six themes explored in this study are salient and helps us understand how and why actors adopt an idea, with a particular emphasis on the interplay between the intrinsic and extrinsic benefits. A suggestion for further research is therefore to develop and refine the conceptual model presented in this study.

The 2015 flood event in the Shire River basin was characterised by Malawi Government’s Department of Disaster Management (DoDMA) as the worst on record. It led to the damage in property worth millions of dollars with recovery still ongoing 3 years later. Over 150 fatalities were confirmed at the time with hundreds of others missing. The extent of the damage of the disaster was perhaps underlined by the swift adoption of the disaster management policy which was still in draft format then and the adoption of the climate change management policy a year later. In the aftermath of the disaster, as with most extreme weather events elsewhere around the world, questions were asked as to whether climate change might have had a hand in the occurrence of such an event and whether, going into a warmer climate, events of that nature of extremity will be the new normal. By using the risk-based event attribution methodology based on dedicated attribution experiments with a global climate model, and focusing on one of the sub-catchments of the Shire River basin, this study explored whether climate change from anthropogenic sources might have influenced the likelihood of such an event occurring. However, given the nature of hydrological events and the land use history of the basin, land use and cover change is another potential flood risk factor which, if overlooked, might affect conclusions with regards to the contribution of external factors to the risk of flooding. To account for both climate change and land use and land change, four sets of rainfallrunoff simulations were run using the Hydrologiska Byrans Vattenbalans-avdelning (HBV) hydrological model which has the ability to simulate the impact of land use and climate change on rainfall-runoff relationships. Each set was a combination of a climate scenario-either “factual” or “counter-factual”- and land use and cover change scenario-either factual (historical) or counterfactual (current). The climate scenarios were based on simulated rainfall and temperature from the HadAM3p model run in two modes-the “factual” and “counter-factual”- simulating the climate with atmospheric conditions closely resembling the atmosphere at the time of occurrence of the event and the climate as it would have been without human emissions of greenhouse gases. The proportion of the risk was calculated to determine how the risk of experiencing a flood of the January-April 2015 magnitude (for 1-day, 10- day, and 30-day maximum flows) changes with climate change only, land use and cover change only, as well as both climate change and land use and cover change. The results demonstrated that the probability of exceeding the 1-day maximum flow of the 2015 magnitude was lower in the factual (current) climate than in the counter-factual. However, changes in land use modify the flood risk such that, when land use change was accounted for, the extent of the reduction in the risk was lower. On the other hand, exceedance probabilities for 10-day and 30-day maximum flows were higher in the factual (current) climate. This was further heightened by changes in land use and cover. The study also established that observational uncertainties typical of the region may influence event attribution results to some extent. The results, which are based on a single attribution method and a single global climate model, do not span the method-model uncertainty range. As a consequence, the results are limited and do not constitute a fully defensible attribution statement.