ix, 94 p. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / This project analyzes the cun-ent NBC television situation comedy 30 Rock for its potential as a popular form of critical cultural criticism of the NBC network and, in general, the cultural industries. The series is about the behind the scenes work of a fictionalized comedy show, which like 30 Rock is also appearing on NBC. The show draws on parody and satire to engage in an ongoing effort to generate humor as well as commentary on the sitcom genre and industry practices such as corporate control over creative content and product placement. Using a textual analysis, the show is examined to explore issues related to the television industry, the production of culture, and the culture of production. Of concern is the contradictory relationship between the critical potential of 30 Rock's self-reflexive content and the commercial, commodity structure of the television industry within which the series is located. / Committee in Charge: Carl Bybee, Chair; Patricia A. Curtin ; Janet Wasko

Informe de Seminario para optar al grado de Licenciado en Historia

Wellbore stability is a critical issue when drilling through tectonically stressed and complex geological conditions. Understanding wellbore stability issues before a well is drilled enables better planning of the drilling operation and helps to avoid borehole failure. This is of particular importance in underbalanced drilling where we are limited with our choice of drilling mud densities. This thesis examines the impact of fluid pressure change on wellbore stability during underbalanced drilling by using a timedependent poroelastic model. The poroelastic behaviour is analysed using numerical and analytical models. The finite element method (FEM) is used for the numerical model. Some simple techniques are developed and implemented to increase the speed and stability of the FEM solution. The common assumptions of plane strain and plane stress are explored. It is shown that the plane strain assumption results in high error while the error for plane stress is low. It is also shown that use of plane strain predicts more instability than use of plane stress and the stability difference is significant. From this it is concluded that the plane stress assumption should be used instead of the commonly used plane strain assumption. A sensitivity analysis is conducted to demonstrate the effect of several variables on wellbore stability during underbalanced drilling. These variables include mean in-situ horizontal stress, deviatoric in-situ horizontal stress, bulk compressibility and permeability. I various ways changes in these variables were shown to change the chance of shear failure, early time tensile failure through exfoliation and late time tensile failure through hydraulic fracture initiation.

The first section of this thesis (Chapter 2) describes the creation and analysis of a database on concrete and masonry dam incidents known as CONGDATA. The aim was to carry out as complete a study of concrete and masonry dam incidents as was practicable, with a greater emphasis than in other studies on the geology, mode of failure, and the warning signs that were observed. This analysis was used to develop a method of very approximately assessing probabilities of failure. This can be used in initial risk assessments of large concrete and masonry dams along with analysis of stability for various annual exceedance probability floods. The second and main section of this thesis (Chapters 3-6) had its origins in the results of Chapter 2 and the general interests of the author. It was found that failure through the foundation was common in the list of dams analysed and that information on how to assess the strength of the foundations of dams on rock masses was limited. This section applies to all applications of rock mass strength such as the stability of rock slopes. Methods used for assessing the shear strength of jointed rock masses are based on empirical criteria. As a general rule such criteria are based on laboratory scale specimens with very little, and often no, field validation. The Hoek-Brown empirical rock mass failure criterion was developed in 1980 for hard rock masses. Since its development it has become virtually universally accepted and is now used for all types of rock masses and in all stress regimes. This thesis uses case studies and databases of intact rock and rockfill triaxial tests collated by the author to review the current Hoek-Brown criterion. The results highlight the inability of the criterion to fit all types of intact rock and poor quality rock masses. This arose predominately due to the exponent a being restrained to approximately 0.5 to 0.62 and using rock type as a predictor of mi. Modifications to the equations for determining the Hoek-Brown parameters are provided that overcome these problems. In the course of reviewing the Hoek-Brown criterion new equations were derived for estimating the shear strength of intact rock and rockfill. Empirical slope design curves have also been developed for use as a preliminary tool for slope design.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

The first section of this thesis (Chapter 2) describes the creation and analysis of a database on concrete and masonry dam incidents known as CONGDATA. The aim was to carry out as complete a study of concrete and masonry dam incidents as was practicable, with a greater emphasis than in other studies on the geology, mode of failure, and the warning signs that were observed. This analysis was used to develop a method of very approximately assessing probabilities of failure. This can be used in initial risk assessments of large concrete and masonry dams along with analysis of stability for various annual exceedance probability floods. The second and main section of this thesis (Chapters 3-6) had its origins in the results of Chapter 2 and the general interests of the author. It was found that failure through the foundation was common in the list of dams analysed and that information on how to assess the strength of the foundations of dams on rock masses was limited. This section applies to all applications of rock mass strength such as the stability of rock slopes. Methods used for assessing the shear strength of jointed rock masses are based on empirical criteria. As a general rule such criteria are based on laboratory scale specimens with very little, and often no, field validation. The Hoek-Brown empirical rock mass failure criterion was developed in 1980 for hard rock masses. Since its development it has become virtually universally accepted and is now used for all types of rock masses and in all stress regimes. This thesis uses case studies and databases of intact rock and rockfill triaxial tests collated by the author to review the current Hoek-Brown criterion. The results highlight the inability of the criterion to fit all types of intact rock and poor quality rock masses. This arose predominately due to the exponent a being restrained to approximately 0.5 to 0.62 and using rock type as a predictor of mi. Modifications to the equations for determining the Hoek-Brown parameters are provided that overcome these problems. In the course of reviewing the Hoek-Brown criterion new equations were derived for estimating the shear strength of intact rock and rockfill. Empirical slope design curves have also been developed for use as a preliminary tool for slope design.

<p>Breeding dispersal can be a way for an individual to improve its fitness. Own reproductive success has been shown to be a cue to dispersal among many bird species. Natural selection should favor dispersal to higher-quality territories and a larger territory is predicted to improve fitness. Data from male rock pipits, <em>Anthus petrosus littoralis</em>, on the Swedish west coast indicated, as predicted, that dispersal follows an unsuccessful breeding year. However, no fitness improvement was detected after dispersal, leading to the conclusion that dispersing in itself does not lead to better fitness. Instead it was the acquisition of a larger territory that was the main cause of fitness improvement, unrelated to whether a male returned to an old territory or dispersed to a new one. However, remaining in one's old territory showed to be more beneficial than dispersing. There was a high variation within the rock pipit populations of Nidingen and Malön, due to year-to-year territory quality variation and individual quality among the birds, which could have had a big effect on the outcome of the analyses of the effects of dispersal.</p> / <p>Att byta revir kan vara ett sätt för en individ att förbättra sin fitness. Den egna reproduktiva framgången har påvisats påverka beslutet om revirbyte. Naturligt urval borde favorisera byte till ett revir av högre kvalitet och ett större revir förutsägs förbättra fitness. Data från skärpiplärkor, <em>Anthus petrosus littoralis</em>, tyder på att ett misslyckat häckningsår leder till spridning. Däremot påvisades ingen förbättring av fitness efter spridning, vilket leder till slutsatsen att spridningen i sig inte leder till bättre fitness. Istället var det anskaffandet av ett större revir som var den huvudsakliga orsaken till fitnessförbättring, orelaterat till om en hanne utökade sitt gamla revir eller flyttade till ett nytt. Däremot visade det sig vara bättre att stanna kvar i sitt gamla revir än att flytta. Det fanns en stor variation bland Nidingens och Malöns populationer av piplärka, på grund av årlig variation i revirkvalitet och individuell kvalitet bland fåglarna, vilket kan ha haft en stor effekt på resultatet av analyserna av spridningseffekterna.</p>

Breeding dispersal can be a way for an individual to improve its fitness. Own reproductive success has been shown to be a cue to dispersal among many bird species. Natural selection should favor dispersal to higher-quality territories and a larger territory is predicted to improve fitness. Data from male rock pipits, Anthus petrosus littoralis, on the Swedish west coast indicated, as predicted, that dispersal follows an unsuccessful breeding year. However, no fitness improvement was detected after dispersal, leading to the conclusion that dispersing in itself does not lead to better fitness. Instead it was the acquisition of a larger territory that was the main cause of fitness improvement, unrelated to whether a male returned to an old territory or dispersed to a new one. However, remaining in one's old territory showed to be more beneficial than dispersing. There was a high variation within the rock pipit populations of Nidingen and Malön, due to year-to-year territory quality variation and individual quality among the birds, which could have had a big effect on the outcome of the analyses of the effects of dispersal. / Att byta revir kan vara ett sätt för en individ att förbättra sin fitness. Den egna reproduktiva framgången har påvisats påverka beslutet om revirbyte. Naturligt urval borde favorisera byte till ett revir av högre kvalitet och ett större revir förutsägs förbättra fitness. Data från skärpiplärkor, Anthus petrosus littoralis, tyder på att ett misslyckat häckningsår leder till spridning. Däremot påvisades ingen förbättring av fitness efter spridning, vilket leder till slutsatsen att spridningen i sig inte leder till bättre fitness. Istället var det anskaffandet av ett större revir som var den huvudsakliga orsaken till fitnessförbättring, orelaterat till om en hanne utökade sitt gamla revir eller flyttade till ett nytt. Däremot visade det sig vara bättre att stanna kvar i sitt gamla revir än att flytta. Det fanns en stor variation bland Nidingens och Malöns populationer av piplärka, på grund av årlig variation i revirkvalitet och individuell kvalitet bland fåglarna, vilket kan ha haft en stor effekt på resultatet av analyserna av spridningseffekterna.

Granular porous material is idealized as an elastic-plastic material, where macroscopic failure occurs at a critical stress by localized dilatant shear at low effective pressure and compactional cataclastic flow at high effective pressure. Yielding and accumulation of microscopic damage at sub-critical stress levels however also are important characteristic of the failure process. Here, load-reload triaxial compression tests are used to investigate damage development at low and high effective pressures, and validate prevailing models for failure across the brittle-ductile transition. Water saturated cylinders of Berea sandstone (18 percent porosity, 185 mu m grain size) were deformed at an axial strain rate of 4x10^-5 s^-1 to 8x10^-5 s^-1 pore pressures of 10, 20, and 30 MPa, and confining pressures of 50, 180, and 260 MPa to investigate the brittle, transitional, and ductile regimes. Measurement of sample strain and acoustic emissions are used to quantify the accumulation of damage and map equivalent damage states in stress space. Results illustrate that contours of equivalent damage for sub-critical stress states between yield and macroscopic failure are sub-parallel to the failure envelope across the brittle-ductile transition. Damage induced at one effective pressure (low, intermediate, or high pressure) has a systematic, but variable effect on failure at other effective pressure conditions, supporting the concept of distinct processes and damage development in the low and high pressure regimes. Reloaded samples in the low pressure regime with an initial loading in the high pressure regime are significantly weakened, but reloaded samples in the high pressure regime are unaffected by an initial loading in the high pressure regime. The behavior across the brittle-ductile transition is most consistent with a model based on two distinct yield envelopes, each associated with distinct damage mechanisms and a sharp transition between the low and high pressure regimes.

This study investigates the effects that lichens have on rock surfaces in which ancient rock art (petroglyphs and pictographs) may be found. The study area includes four sites in the United States: one quartzite site in southwest Minnesota, two sandstone sites in Wyoming, and one volcanic site in Central New Mexico. One additional granitic site studied is located northeast Queensland, Australia. The questions driving the pursuit of this dissertation research are: 1. How does the chemistry of the rock change with weathering and how deep is the profile? 2. Do lichens cause differential chemical changes? 3. How does the chemistry of the unaltered rock influence these changes? 4. Do lichens strip the patina or “desert varnish” from the rock surfaces? The results of this research confirm from elemental chemical analyses that geochemical changes do take place in the presence of lichens. The combined mechanical and chemical processes contribute to the degradation and greater erodability of all the rock surfaces studied. Chemically, we have demonstrated that cements that hold grains of rocks together can be dissoluble by lichen byproducts in the presence of an aqueous environment whether the rocks are sandstone or granite. This information regarding the mechanical and geochemical processes at work in natural environments has significant practical benefit for the management, conservation, and preservation of rock art sites everywhere.