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The work presented here is a research thesis of the Ph. D programme in The School of Computing, Science & Engineering at The University of Salford UK. The work presents the evaluation of using explicit finite element techniques for structural non-linear dynamic analysis of a floating offshore wind turbine used for harnessing wind kinetic energy and converting it to electricity. The LS-DYNA3D explicit finite element analysis programme is used in performing the evaluation of the analysis and in creating a full scale model typical to the one evaluated. The developed model (case study) is a 1.4MW power rated floating 3 blades turbine elevated at 46.5 m above main sea level a top a tripod lattice steel tower firmly resting on a moored floating concrete hull buoy, positioned on a concrete circular disk. The mooring cables supporting the floating units in the multi unit farm are designed to share seabed anchoring piles for economic reasons. The model is intended for use in moderately deep waters of up to 500m. The State-of-the-art report is presented concerning wind energy technology, floating offshore wind structures and important features of the LS-DYNA3D code. The theoretical basics for service loads experienced by the floating wind turbine are explored and the loads are quantified. The Verification and validation work on developed small models is presented to ensure confidence in the developed full scale model and the evaluation of the finite element techniques which may be applied to such structures. Development of full scale model, material properties, loads and boundary conditions are presented. Recommendations both for this model and future development are accordingly made.

À partir des transformations d'espaces publics urbains de Guayaquil (Équateur), trois processus d’intervention ont été distingués : régénération, rénovation, et autoréhabilitation. Ceux-ci ont commencé en raison des conditions d'habitabilité négligées de ces espaces, cette habitabilité externe devenant un enjeu majeur pour la ville. Trois zones principales de changement ont été définies : le centre-ville, la banlieue d’Estero Salado et l’Île Santay. De ceci, trois typologies d’espaces publics urbains ayant trait aux cours d’eau ont été respectivement définies : malecones, parcs linéaires et parc de mangrove. Les changements récents sont également basés sur des objectifs nationaux plus larges : le Buen Vivir et les Droits de la Nature (Constitution équatorienne de 2008). Des méthodes spécifiques ont constaté la pertinence des espaces publics et leurs fonctions dans les dimensions diverses des logiques de la ville, obtenant plusieurs résultats. D’abord, les causes du succès (ou non) des interventions des espaces publics ont été identifiées, ainsi que la façon dont ces interventions ont été accompagnées de problèmes sociaux, ce qui rendait vulnérable le droit à la ville des habitants. Ces premiers résultats ont été obtenus grâce à un travail de terrain : l'observation participative, des enquêtes et entretiens de fonctionnaires, d’habitants et/ou d’utilisateurs. Cela a amené à ce que la conception générale des espaces publics soit redéfinie au niveau local pour cette recherche. Dans cette analyse sociale et spatiale, émergent un processus d'homogénéisation des espaces publics, une mutation d'usages et une fragmentation spatiale. Tous ces problèmes ont remis en doute un des éléments importants de la planification des espaces publics : le design urbain, qui est un paramètre, entre autres, de la qualité et de la perception de ces espaces, influençant la relation environnement/humain (testée par l'analyse sensorielle des méthodes exploratoires). Ainsi, les changements de ces espaces publics affectent les interactions et le comportement humain, produisant une nouvelle urbanité pour les guayaquileños, qui leur donne une fierté identitaire. À la lumière de telles situations complexes, les procédés actuels de « faire la ville » ont été remis en cause. De cette façon, le paradigme traditionnel des espaces publics (connu pour être des zones résiduelles et/ou secondaires dans la planification), peut être inversé en un paradigme dans lequel ils sont considérés comme des liens et des médiateurs, structurant la ville dans sa morphologie, sa planification et ses dimensions liées aux êtres humains. En effet, les espaces publics peuvent constituer un sous-système concentrant la planification, le design, la construction et la gestion du système de la ville. / From Guayaquil’s urban public spaces transformations, three interventional processes were distinguished: regeneration, renovation, and rehabilitation. These started due to neglected exterior habitability conditions as the city’s livability was at stake, defining three main zones of change: city center, Estero Salado suburbs, and Santay Island. From this, three waterside urban public spaces’ typologies were respectively defined: malecones, linear parks and mangrove-park. The recent changes are based as well on broader national goals: Buen Vivir and Rights of Nature (Ecuador’s 2008 Constitution). Specific methods identified public spaces’ relevance and functions in various dimensions of the city’s logics, obtaining several findings. Firstly, it could be identified why public spaces’ interventions have been successful or unsuccessful, and how this lead to social problems in which people’s right to the city is at stake. This was done through fieldwork: participant observation, surveys and interviews to civil servants, inhabitants or users. This lead to redefine the concept of public spaces into local definitions. In this social and spatial analysis, a public spaces’ homogenization process is happening, mutation of uses and spatial fragmentation. All this problems re-questioned one of the elements at stake when planning public spaces: urban design, which can be responsible of public spaces’ quality, perceptions, among others, influencing the human-environment relationship (tested through sensorial analysis exploratory methods). Certainly, the changes of these public spaces affect human interactions and behavior, generating a new-styled urbanity for Guayaquileños, an identity to be proud of. In light of such complex situations, the current ways of making the city were questioned. In this way, the traditional paradigm of public spaces as residual or secondary areas in planning can be inverted, based on public spaces as linkers and mediators, which structure the city in its morphological, planning, and human related dimensions. Indeed, public spaces can constitute a subsystem to focus on planning, designing, constructing, and managing the city system.

Without a comprehensive understanding of anthropogenic pressures on the water environment, it is difficult to develop effective and efficient strategies to support water management in a proactive way. A broader systems perspective and expanded information systems are therefore essential to aid in systematically exploring interlinks between socioeconomic activities and impaired waters at an appropriate scale. This thesis examined the root causes of human-induced water problems, taking the socioeconomic sector into account and using systems thinking and life cycle thinking as the two main methods. The European DPSIR (Drivers-Pressures-State of the Environment-Impacts-Responses) framework was also used as a basis for discussing two kinds of approaches to water management, namely state/impacts-oriented and pressure-oriented. The results indicate that current water management approaches are mainly state/impacts-oriented. The state/impacts-oriented approach is mainly based on observed pollutants in environmental monitoring and/or on biodiversity changes in ecological monitoring. Employing this approach, the main concern is hydrophysical and biogeochemical changes in the water environment and the end result is reactive responses to combat water problems. As a response, a pressure-oriented approach, derived from a DPR (Drivers-Pressures-Responses) model, was developed to aid in alleviating/avoiding human-induced pressures on the water environment. From a principal perspective, this approach could lead to proactive water-centric policy and decision making and the derivation of pressure-oriented information systems. The underlying principle of the DPR approach is that many root causes of human-induced water problems are closely related to anthroposphere metabolism. An industrial ecology (IE) perspective, based on the principle of mass/material balance, was also introduced to trace water flows in the human-oriented water system and to account for emissions/wastes discharged into the natural water system. This IE-based perspective should be used as part of the basis for developing pressure-oriented monitoring and assessing impacts of human-induced pressures on recipient waters. While demonstrating the use of the pressure-oriented approach, two conceptual frameworks were developed, for water quantity and water quality analysis, respectively. These two frameworks could help motivate decision makers to consider water problems in a broader socioeconomic and environment context. Thus they should be the first step in making a broader systems analysis in any given river basin, regarding setting systems boundary and identifying data availability. In this context, a combined hydrological and administrative boundary is suggested to monitor anthropogenic processes and organise socioeconomic activity statistics. / QC 20120515

The assumption that prehistoric Native American land use practices had little impact on the North American landscape persists in the literature. However, recent research suggests the effects of prehistoric burning, deforestation and agriculture may potentially have been greater than previously considered. To resolve this discrepancy, quantitative estimates of changes in human population size and forest structure and composition over the course of the Holocene are needed. This thesis addresses this need by providing radiocarbon-based paleodemographic reconstructions and pollen-inferred estimates of vegetation change, as well as analyses of associations between the two at both continental and regional scales, from the late Pleistocene to the Anthropocene. One way to estimate paleodemographic change is to use the number of radiocarbon (14C) dates from a given area to study patterns of human occupation through time. A review of the literature and compilation of existing databases relevant to this method showed there is now sufficient data to study the paleodemographic history of many regions around the world. An analysis of 14C datasets from North America and Australia compared well with model-based reconstructions of past demographic growth, and provided higher frequency fluctuations in population densities that will be important for future research. Using a kernel density estimation approach, the first estimates of prehistoric population density for North America were obtained and synthesized into a series of continental-scale maps showing the distribution and frequency of 14C dates in the Canadian Archaeological Radiocarbon Database (CARD). The maps illustrated the space-time evolution of population and migration patterns, which were corroborated by independent sources of evidence. A methodology based on the statistical evaluation of cross-correlations between population and plant abundance was then developed to analyze the associations between these population estimates and plant communities derived from pollen databases. Periods of high spatial cross-correlation (positive and negative) between population and plant abundance were irregular and did not improve over time, suggesting that ancient human impacts are not discernable at a continental scale, either due to low populations or varying human land use practices. To further examine the relationship between pollen data and human land use at a regional scale, estimates of plant density and landscape openness are needed. The REVEALS (Regional Estimates of VEgetation Abundance from Large Sites) model corrects for the non-linear relationship between pollen production and plant abundance and can therefore be used to map histories of land use and land cover change. The model was applied to pollen records from lake sediments in the deciduous forest of southeastern Quebec. A preliminary analysis comparing these results to population density revealed low population during times of high Populus abundance and high population following the appearance of the mixed temperate forest suggesting a discernable human-environment association at regional scales. Overall, the results of thesis support the growing body of literature that suggests prehistoric Native Americans impacted their environments and that these impacts can be detected and quantified by integrating archaeological and paleoecological information. However, the timing, location, and intensity of human land use has changed in both space and time, suggesting regional- to local-scale analyses of human-environment interactions are most appropriate for continental North America. The methodology presented here can be used to study additional North American regions for the purpose of developing a continental history of human-environment interaction.

Les premières migrations ont atteint la région de l’Océanie Lointaine (à l'est des îles Salomon) récemment, autour de 3000 ans BP. De nombreux éléments sont à prendre en compte dans ce processus de déplacement de populations, dont les changements environnementaux. L’installation de l’Homme sur des îles vierges a probablement influencé la faune et la flore insulaires, mais la réponse de la végétation face à la pression anthropique varie d’un site étudié à un autre. Les objectifs de cette recherche ont été de décrire l'influence humaine sur l'environnement depuis les premières migrations, de déterminer l'impact climatique sur ces déplacements de populations et sur la modification des paysages au cours de l'Holocène supérieur ; puis, de caractériser le comportement humain et son adaptation à une île vierge. Pour répondre à cette problématique, deux carottes palustres, prélevées sur l'île d'Efate (au centre du Vanuatu) ont été étudiées : le marais d’Emaotfer et le lac Otas. Afin d’identifier la paléovégétation arborée et herbacée présente autour des sites, j’ai principalement analysé les grains de pollen et les micro-charbons. J’ai également reconstitué les températures et les précipitations passées à l’aide de fonctions de densité de probabilité.Au niveau climatique, ces analyses mettent en évidence une période chaude et humide jusqu'à 3700 ans cal BP. Ensuite, un environnement plus sec se met en place, suite à une augmentation de l'ampleur et du nombre d’évènements El Niño. Entre 1950 et 750-600 ans cal BP, les résultats révèlent un climat plus humide, associé à la diminution de fréquence et d’intensité des El Niño. Les modifications de la végétation du marais d’Emaotfer et du lac Otas illustrent une nouvelle période sèche après 750-600 ans cal BP, que l’on peut associer au Petit Âge Glaciaire.Les populations Lapita ont atteint l'île d'Efate vers 3000 ans cal BP, sous des fréquents et importants El Niño, lorsque les vents d'est se sont arrêtés, favorisant la navigation à voile vers l’est. Ces résultats soutiennent l'hypothèse de migrations vers l'est sous de faibles alizés. Les premiers colons étaient des navigateurs et des pêcheurs-cueilleurs, ils ont eu peu d'impact sur l'environnement. Autour de 1500-1300 ans cal BP, une nouvelle population s’est installée sur le site d’Emaotfer, a développé la culture de plantes médicinales, cérémoniales et alimentaires et a probablement pratiquée l’agriculture sur brûlis. Ce groupe a vécu sous un climat humide, également plus approprié au développement de l'horticulture. Nos résultats montrent la capacité d'adaptation des populations aux nouvelles contraintes environnementales et climatiques. Les résultats issus des analyses polliniques et de micro-charbons livrent des informations assez complètes sur le paléoenvironnement, les relations Homme-climat-végétation et l'émergence de l'impact anthropique. Pour de futures recherches, il serait nécessaire d'obtenir plus de données sur la pluie pollinique d’un maximum de taxons, sur les exigences écologiques des espèces végétales et les paramètres climatiques actuels propre à chaque île, afin de modéliser de façon robuste les paysages, les climats et l’influence de l’Homme sur la dynamique de végétation passée (projet LandCover6k) / The first settlers reached the Remote Oceania (east of the Solomon Islands) quite recently, around 3000 yr BP. There are several hypotheses concerning the causes of these migrations, and environmental changes have to be taken into account in the settlement proceeding. The arrival of populations on pristine islands has an influence on the native fauna and flora, but landscape responses to human impact vary for each site examined. The aims of this research are to describe the human influence on the environment since the first migrations, to discriminate the climate impact, which causes theses migrations and the landscape modification during the late Holocene; then, to characterize the human behaviour and adaptation on pristine island. To answer this problem, two palustrine cores, collected in Efate Island (central Vanuatu) were studied: the Emaotfer Swamp and the Otas Lake.I have mainly used pollen and micro-charcoal analyses to reconstruct the arboreal and herbaceous vegetation found around the sites. I have also conducted of past temperatures and rainfalls reconstructions thanks to density probability functions. At the climatic level, these analyses highlight a warm and wet period until 3700 cal yr BP. Then, a increase in magnitude and number of El Niño events caused a drier environment. Between 1950 and 750-600 cal yr BP, the results reveal a more humid climate, associated with the decrease in El Niño frequency and magnitude. The climatic variations recorded by the Otas Lake and the Emaotfer Swamp vegetation show a new dry period after 750-600 cal yr BP, corresponding to the Little Ice Age.Lapita people reached Efate Island ca. 3000 cal yr BP under frequent and sustained El Niño events. During this period, easterly winds stopped and favoured eastward sail. These results support the hypothesis of eastward migrations under low trade winds. The first settlers were seafarers and fishers-gatherers, they had little impact on the environment. A new population settled the Emaotfer Swamp from 1500-1300 cal yr BP, developed medicinal, ceremonial and food plants cultivations and has probably practiced slash and burn agriculture. This group lived under humid climate, also more suitable to the development of horticulture. Our results show the adaptive capacity of populations to new environmental and climatic constraints. The complementary of the pollen and micro-charcoal analyses deliver rather complete information on the palaeoenvironment, the Human-climate-vegetation relations and the emergence of the human impact. For future researches, it will be necessary to obtain more information on the pollen rain for a maximum of taxa, the ecological needs of plant species and the specific climate parameters for each island, to develop a robust model of past landscapes, climates and land-use (project LandCover6k).

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Cette thèse fait la lumière sur les différentes manières dont, historiquement, a été perçu, conçu et vécu le territoire, à travers l’expérience et l’essor de la mobilité. Cette étude montre le rôle crucial de l’automobilité dans le développement touristique du Québec et de l’Ontario et les manières dont elle a façonné certains de leurs territoires. La thèse reconstitue ces processus en examinant les différentes mesures adoptées pour mettre en tourisme ces territoires et les transformer sur le plan matériel comme symbolique, entre 1920 et 1967. Elle répond à la question suivante : en quoi et comment la mobilité associée à l’automobile transforme et crée les territoires touristiques? La période étudiée s’ouvre au moment où débute l’intervention gouvernementale en matière de tourisme et s’amorce l’aménagement d’infrastructures favorisant une plus grande automobilité. Elle se clôt sur les célébrations entourant le Centenaire du Canada et la tenue de l’Expo 1967 à Montréal, qui donnent lieu à un aménagement intense du territoire afin d’accommoder un nombre sans précédent de touristes motorisés en provenance des autres provinces canadiennes et des États-Unis. La thèse reconstitue d’abord le processus de mise en tourisme des territoires par la conception, la construction et la promotion du système routier, l’élaboration d’itinéraires et de circuits touristiques et le développement d’outils accompagnant le touriste dans sa mobilité. L’embellissement en tant qu’élément structurant de la transformation des territoires est ensuite examiné. Enfin, la publicité, les récits et les pratiques touristiques sont étudiés de manière détaillée afin d’identifier les mécanismes par lesquels se construisent les représentations des territoires par l’apport de différents acteurs. Cette thèse révèle ainsi les liens étroits et complexes qui se développent à partir des années 1920 entre l’automobilité, le tourisme et la modification des territoires. Elle contribue à mettre au jour l’historicité de certains réflexes et orientations qui ont encore cours dans l’industrie touristique canadienne soit ceux d’aborder son développement en fonction de l’accessibilité du territoire à l’automobile et du regard à travers le pare-brise. En montrant le rôle du système automobile dans l’expérience touristique, l’étude ajoute un élément nouveau à la compréhension de la démocratisation des loisirs. Souvent expliquée par la hausse du niveau de vie, du temps libre et de la généralisation des congés payés, cette démocratisation se trouve aussi favorisée par l’accessibilité à l’automobile qui, à son tour, rend accessible des territoires de plus en plus éloignés à des fins de loisirs. La dimension récréative de l’automobile permet d’expliquer son adoption rapide par les Nord-Américains et les Canadiens ainsi que la dépendance qu’ils ont progressivement développée à son égard. / This thesis explores the different ways in which territory has historically been perceived, conceived and practiced through the experience and growth of mobility. It shows the crucial role that "automobility" played for touristic development in Quebec and Ontario and the ways it shaped parts of their territory. The present study examines the different measures adopted to promote tourism in newly developed regions and to both physically and symbolically transform these regions between 1920 and 1967. The thesis answers the following question: how and in which way has automobility transformed and created tourist regions? The period under study opens with the beginning of government intervention in the tourism industry through the creation of automobile-related infrastructure. The thesis carries its examination through the celebrations organised around the 100th anniversary of Canada and Expo 67 in Montreal, an event which led to large-scale territorial development necessary to accommodate an unprecedented number of automobiles from across Canada and the United States. This thesis first reconstitutes the processes involved in the creation of tourist regions: the conception, construction and promotion of the highway system; the implementation of itineraries and tourist routes; and the creation of useful tools that tourists might bring on their journey. It next examines beautification as a structuring element within the transformation of territories. Finally, advertising, travelogues and tourism practices are studied in detail in order to identify the mechanisms through which various actors contributed to fashioning representations of territories. This thesis reveals the close and complex ties that bound automobility, tourism and territorial modification as they developed during the 1920s. It helps to shed light on the historicity of certain approaches and orientations that remain current in the Canadian tourism industry, such as territorial development in terms of car accessibility. By showing the role that automobility played within the tourist experience, the present study adds to the developing understanding of the democratization of leisure. Often explained through higher standards of living as well as through the rise of leisure time and the spread within the working world of paid vacation, this democratization can also be explained through the greater accessibility of automobility, which, in turn, provided greater access to regions located further and further from urban areas. The recreational dimension of automobiling that was put forward early on in its history explains its rapid adoption by Canadians and other North Americans, as well as the dependence on cars that progressively spread through a large portion of the population.

<p>U radu se proučava poreklo funkcija, veza sistema povreatnih sprega sa uspostavljanjem funkcija, primarne funkcije kao funkcije fizičkog protoka između adaptivnih sistema i njihovog okruženja, perceptivno-analitičke funkcije kao funkcije informacionih protoka između adaptivnih sistema i okruženja, strukture obrazaca prirodnog i ljudskom rukom oblikovanih delova okruženja i sistemi ideja u oblikovanju okruženja.</p> / <p>Origins of functions, connections of feedback systems with emerging of<br />functions, primary functions as functions of physical flow between adaptive<br />systems and their environment, perceptual-analytical functions as functions<br />of information flow between adaptive systems and their environment,<br />structures of patterns (levels of form) of natural and human designed<br />elements of environment, historical developement and complexification of<br />relationships of human soci-eties with their environment.</p>