Railroad bridges and culverts in the United States are often subject to extreme floods, which have been known to washout sections of track and ultimately lead to derailments. The potential for these events is particularly high in the western U.S. due to the lack of data, inadequate radar coverage, and the high spatial and temporal variability of storm events and terrain. In this work, a hydrologic model is developed that is capable of effectively describing the rainfall-runoff relationship of extreme thunderstorms in arid and semi-arid regions. The model was calibrated and validated using data from ten storms at the semi-arid Walnut Gulch Experimental Watershed. A methodology is also proposed for reducing the amount of raingages required to provide acceptable inputs to the hydrologic model, and also determining the most appropriate placement location for these gages. Results show that the model is capable of reproducing peak discharges, peak timings, and total volumes to within 22.1%, 12 min, and 32.8%, respectively. Results of the gage reduction procedure show that a decrease in the amount of raingages used to drive the model results in a disproportionally smaller decrease in model accuracy. Results also indicate that choosing gages using the minimization of correlation approach that is described herein will lead to an increase in model accuracy as opposed to selecting gages on a random basis.

This dissertation is a study of strategy in thin industries, a class of industries whose members include the aircraft industry, jet engines, heavy electrical equipment, and diesel locomotives. These industries have a number of common features which inter-relate to produce a unique configuration. Foremost among the attributes that make up this configuration is the sparsity and magnitude of transactions on which the industry must subsist. The decrease in the number of transactions, and the increase in their size, results in a "thin" industry. The sparsity and size of transactions combine to produce complex, unstable, and highly interconnected environments. These environmental conditions motivate firms to develop external linkages with other organizations. The successful management of external linkages will frequently depend on knowledge and experience obtained in previous relationships. Many of the problems created by external linkages can only be resolved once they are formed. At the same time, the knowledge required to resolve these problems calls for previous experience. / The dissertation is divided into two parts. In the first three chapters we explore thin industries as a type and as an environment. In the remaining three chapters we look at the ramifications of interorganizational learning on the management of external linkages. In the concluding chapter we discuss the implications of thin industries to the study and practice of strategic management. Three issues in particular are singled out: the decline of organizational autonomy, the limits of competition, and new directions for theory building. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

In a world of increased daily travel, more efficient means of transporting people become all the more relevant as citizens constantly try to bridge time and distance in an effort to get to work and other meeting places. The ability to transport large numbers of people at the same time, establishes the rail transport as one such mode viable for this task. As a result, cities throughout the world constantly revive existing rail networks and introduce new ones to cater for this growing traveling demand of the 21 st century. The most popular forms of transportation in the city of Durban, namely the bus, taxi and private car are the main contributors to the traffic congestion and air pollution problems in the city, hence the need to reconsider the importance of the train. Following international precedent, South Africa is planning to revive its railway services by changing its image and ensuring passenger safety in order to establish it as a major public transport system (Ministry of transport, 2006). In creating the building form of railway station buildings, it is necessary to understand passenger movement and activity within the station as well as the spaces required for such activities. This is vital if the designer has to make a meaningful contribution to society though his building intervention. Railway stations do not function in isolation to other modes of transportation in the city, hence the need for this study to consider the station in a node or interchange context to enforce its role within the city's transportation system as a whole. / Thesis (M.T.R.P.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2008.

The true nineteenth-century story of the Underground Railroad begins in the South and is spread North by free blacks, escaping southern slaves, and displaced, white, anti-slavery Protestant evangelicals. This study examines the role of free blacks, escaping slaves, and white Protestant evangelicals influenced by tenants of Kentucky’s Second Great Awakening who were inspired, directly or indirectly, to aid in African American community building. The impact of Kentucky’s Great Revival resulted in creation and expansion of systems of escape commonly referred to as the “Underground Railroad” which led to self-emancipation among enslaved African Americans, the establishment of free black settlements in the South, North, within Kentucky borderlands, and the Mid- West, and resulting in the eventual outbreak of a Civil War. An examination of slave narratives, escaping slave ads, the history of American religious societies, as well as examination of denominational doctrines, policies, public views, and actions regarding American slavery confirmed the impact of Kentucky’s 1797 Great Revival on freeing slaves, creating black church congregations, establishment of antislavery churches, and benevolent societies throughout Kentucky and the Mid-West. These newly formed churches and societies spread the gospel of black freedom beyond Kentucky into Western Territories particularly Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri. The spread of an evangelical religious message and the violent displacement of white and black antislavery advocates had the unintended consequence of aiding freedom seeking slaves in the formation of independent, black settlements and religious societies, not only in Kentucky but also in the North and West. This work acknowledges the central role Kentucky played in providing two of the three acknowledged and well-documented national Underground Railroad escape corridors which successfully ran through eastern Kentucky’s Appalachian Mountains and within the core of the state’s Western and Central Bluegrass Regions.

It has been desirable for years to develop non-intrusive/non-invasiveprocedures to determine the pressures and stresses at various levels andinterfaces in the railroad track structure in order to optimize track designs andimprove subsequent track performance. Recent research has developedsatisfactory procedures for measuring pressures in the track structure at theballast/subballast/subgrade levels using earth pressure cells. The researchreported in this thesis documents the development of a technique for measuringthe pressures in the track, at the rail/tie plate/tie interfaces, using a very thinpressure sensitive Tekscan sensor. The Tekscan Measurement System uses asensor composed of a matrix-based array of force sensitive cells, similar to ministrain gauges, to obtain accurate pressure distributions between two surfaces inthe track. This thesis specifically describes: 1) the optimum procedure to installthe sensors into the track, 2) the recommended practices to effectively collectdata with the software, and 3) the accepted techniques for analyzing the results.Both laboratory calibration and in-track testing have been conducted and theresults are presented. The findings attest to the usefulness and practicality of theprocedure for accurately measuring pressures in railroad tracks. The proceduremay also be applicable for a wide variety of specific track related measurementssuch as validating curve geometric criteria, assessing crossing diamond impactpressures, and evaluating the advantages/disadvantages of various types of tieplates, fastenings and tie compositions.

The project examines the architectural and financial feasibility of adaptive reuse of the Pennsylvania Station at Fort Wayne, Indiana, as an international cultural center and railroad passenger station. The project summarizes the results of primary research which determined the history of the station's original construction and subsequent alterations, as well as the property's associations with the history of Fort Wayne. The narrative also provides an illustrated summary of the current physical condition of the site and its two structures. The proposal for adaptive reuse includes an Amtrak rail passenger facility, shops, a restaurant, and classroom and dormitory areas to be used as a campus of the International Education Center, a school based in Tokyo, Japan. The proposed rehabilitation work is described in terms of its impact upon the historic features of the property, and the design issues involved are stated, as well as the major elements of the proposed work. An itemized budget for all proposed construction is provided.Based upon current rents in the project area, financial comparison of the investment needed with projected returns determined that the project would provide an acceptable acceptable rate of return on the required investment. The study concluded that the project would be both financially and architecturally viable. / Department of Architecture

国立情報学研究所で電子化したコンテンツを使用している。

The current field of research concerning the impact of railroads in Sweden beside from the State main-line network is relatively narrow. Including cultural impact to the area narrows the results even further. The purpose of this study is to open the field even more into the local societies and to what extent the impact of the introduction of railroad might have had on smaller county villages. Sweden holds a unique position concerning “station towns” or “railways towns” in terms of railway policy and the industrial development in towns that were affected by the railway, as the affected towns continued development were based on a hybrid between direct democracy and adaptations of city-law policies. This study takes place in Kisa, a small town in southern Östergötland that during the beginning of the 20th century turned into a municipal community due to the building of Östra centralbanan (roughly translated Eastern central-line). The aim has been to apply and compare earlier results concerning station towns in general research with local research on the town of Kisa.The tools for investigating the impact of the railroad in Kisa include demographical, industrial and criminal development of the town. Local letters sent to the district moot, in Swedish termed as kommunalstämma, as well as an insight to the local newspaper are also presented in this study. The conclusions of this study approves in many forms to the results of earlier research, but also opens questions for further research regarding the interacting relationship between sociology, voluntary sector and cultural differences in the early industrial station towns.

Theses (Ph.D.)--Murdoch University, 2000. / Thesis submitted to the Division of Social Sciences, Humanities and Education. Bibliography: leaves 292-317.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Wollongong, 2007. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references: leaf 224-236.