Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T18:55:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 5511.pdf: 2599915 bytes, checksum: c246a5f7092e814f87e383c45b31d9f2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-09-06 / Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / Can vinasse accelerate the change of minerals in rock powder for obtaining fertilizer, with utilization of residues from alcohol agro and mining industries? Answering this question was the main objective of this study. So, it was carried out two experiments in a laboratory in a completely randomized set using PVC columns in which we reproduced the 0-50 cm layers of a very clayey Red Oxisol and a Quartzipsamment. In the first test, with duration of 30 days, it was evaluated the application form of the mixture into the soil. It were tested incorporation of basalt powder previously in soil and incubation of basalt powder and vinasse in the laboratory for 24 hours and then applied to the soil. In Red Oxisol were used two doses of basalt powder (0 and 2,0 t ha-1), a dose of vinasse (200 m3 ha-1) and as a control, a dose of water (200 m3 ha-1) using the same amounts of rock powder. For this test, samples were collected from the surface of the columns in 1, 7, 15 and 30 days of experiment. In the second test, with duration of 90 days, using the two soils, were added three doses of basalt powder (0, 2,0 and 4,0 t ha-1) and a dose of vinasse (200 m3 ha-1). The control was made by treatments with water (200 m3 ha-1) with the same doses of rock powder. Samples were collected on the surface of each column in 1, 15, 30, 45, 60 and 90 days and at the end of the experiment, in botton and in the leachate. For the surface samples in the first and second tests and the botton in the second test, we determined the levels of macronutrients (P, K, Ca, Mg, S), micronutrients (B, Fe, Cu, Mn, Zn), H + Al, Al, organic matter, pH in CaCl2, sum of bases, base saturation and cation exchange capacity. In the leachate were determined Ca, Mg, K, SO4, Fe, Mn and Zn. In the first test, the evaluation of the application form of the mixture indicated that there was no difference between the use of basalt powder and vinasse incubated for 24 hours or previously incorporation of rock powder in the soil and then application of vinasse. In the second test, there were significant effects of solvent and soil in the surface layer, with variations in the levels of the attributes analyzed over time. The dose of basalt powder was not significant for most attributes analyzed, except for the levels of boron and iron. On balance levels at the beginning and end of the experiment, the results suggest that sorption phenomena with neoformed mineral phases or organic acids may have occurred. The mixture of vinasse and rock powder is an alternative fertilizer and reduces the consumption of soluble fertilizers, but further studies are needed to evaluate the sorption phenomena and availability of cations in the mixture. / Vinhaça pode acelerar a alteração de minerais em pó de rocha para obtenção de fertilizantes, com aproveitamento de resíduos de agroindústrias de álcool e de mineradoras? Responder a esta pergunta foi o principal objetivo deste estudo. Assim, foi montado em laboratório dois ensaios inteiramente casualizados em colunas de PVC nas quais foram reproduzidas as camadas 0-50 cm de um Latossolo Vermelho muito argiloso e de um Neossolo Quartzarênico. No primeiro ensaio, com duração de 30 dias, foi avaliado o modo de aplicação da mistura no solo. Foram testados a incorporação de pó de basalto previamente no solo e a incubação de pó de basalto e vinhaça em laboratório por 24 horas e depois aplicação no solo. Em Latossolo, foram utilizadas duas doses de pó de basalto (0 e 2,0 t ha-1), uma dose de vinhaça (200 m3 ha-1) e como controle uma dose de água (200 m3 ha-1) com as mesmas quantidades de pó de rocha. Para este ensaio foram coletadas amostras da camada superficial das colunas aos 1, 7, 15 e 30 dias de experimento. No segundo ensaio, com duração de 90 dias, utilizando os dois solos, foram adicionadas três doses de pó de basalto (0; 2,0 e 4,0 t ha-1) e uma dose de vinhaça (200 m3 ha-1). O controle foi feito por meio de tratamentos com água (200 m3 ha-1) e com as mesmas doses de pó de rocha. Foram coletadas amostras na superfície de cada coluna aos 1, 15, 30, 45, 60 e 90 dias e, ao final do experimento, em profundidade e no lixiviado. Para as amostra em superfície do primeiro e segundo ensaios e em profundidade do segundo ensaio, foram determinados os teores de macronutrientes (P, K, Ca, Mg, S), micronutrientes (B, Fe, Cu, Mn, Zn), H+Al, Al, matéria orgânica, pH em CaCl2, soma de bases, saturação por bases e capacidade de troca catiônica. No lixiviado foram determinados os teores de Ca, Mg, K, SO4, Fe, Mn e Zn. No primeiro ensaio, a avaliação do modo de aplicação da mistura indicou que não houve diferença entre a utilização do pó de basalto incubado em vinhaça por 24 horas ou incorporação do pó de rocha no solo e em seguida aplicação de vinhaça. Já no segundo ensaio, houve efeito significativo do solvente e do solo na camada superficial, com variações nos teores dos atributos analisados durante o tempo. A dose de pó de basalto não foi significativa para a maioria dos atributos analisados, com exceção dos teores de boro e de ferro. No balanço de teores no início e no fim do experimento, os resultados sugerem que fenômenos de sorção com fases minerais neoformadas ou com ácidos orgânicos podem ter ocorrido. A mistura de vinhaça e pó de rocha é uma alternativa de adubação e permite reduzir o consumo de fertilizantes solúveis, mas são necessários estudos complementares para avaliar fenômenos de sorção e de disponibilização de cátions nessa mistura.

A hydrodynamic-based storm severity scale that ranks the damage potential of a storm at a given coastal area is developed. Seventeen tropical and extratropical storm events at 113 different locations on the Atlantic coast and the Gulf of Mexico are examined in order to create and verify a Storm Severity Index Model (SSIM). The results from the SSIM are then used to create a location-based storm severity scale titled the Twenty-Four Point Storm Severity Scale. The Twenty-Four Point Scale is based on three subsets of factors. The first is the energy flux above the normal mean high water line that the storm produces, the second is the amount of overwash due to wave-induced runup, and the third is the inundation due to surge-induced flooding that occurs during the event. The advantage of this methodology is that it enables the level of risk associated with a storm to be examined for a specific region, rather than having a single broad value define the entire event. Although, the index is intended for use on sandy beaches with or without dunes, the general methodology could be extended to armored beaches.

In this thesis, I constrain rupture scenarios of active crustal faults in the southern Strait of Georgia and Boundary Bay in order to assess their tsunamigenic potential. The NW-SE-trending Drayton Harbor, Birch Bay, and Sandy Point faults had been previously identified on the southern side of Boundary Bay from aeromagnetic, LiDAR, and paleoseismic data; all show evidence of abrupt vertical Holocene displacements. South of Boundary Bay, the E-W-trending Skipjack Island fault zone was recently mapped on the basis of multibeam sonar imagery and seismic reflection data, with evidence for Holocene offsets of the seafloor and subsurface sediments. In addition, the Fraser River Delta fault had been hypothesized on the basis of a line of pockmarks and fluid seeps. Since these faults have only been recently mapped and identified as active, there is little information available on their structure, rupture style, and past large earthquakes. This makes it difficult to constrain rupture models to predict how fault slip could displace the seafloor during a large earthquake, for input to tsunami models. I analyzed relocated earthquake hypocentres, earthquake mechanisms, bathymetry, topography, and aeromagnetic, seismic reflection, and magnetotelluric data, to constrain the location, strike, dip, and rupture width of each fault. Correlations between datasets enabled mapping of northwestward extensions of the Sandy Point and Birch Bay faults, as well as delineating the previously unmapped Fraser River Delta fault. These offshore faults appear to be associated with infilled basement valleys in the subsurface, perhaps due to differential glacial erosion of weakened fault zone material. The Drayton Harbor fault could not be definitively mapped across Boundary Bay, so was excluded from the rupture modelling. Rupture styles were constrained using a combination of earthquake mechanisms, stress orientations, other evidence of regional compression, and vertical paleoseismic offsets. Where possible, paleoseismic displacements in past earthquakes were used to constrain the amount of fault slip for scenario earthquakes; empirical relations between fault slip and fault length or area were used to estimate displacements for the Skipjack Island and Fraser River Delta faults. The Birch Bay, Sandy Point, Skipjack Island, and Fraser River Delta faults all pose a significant tsunami risk to communities surrounding the southern Strait of Georgia and Boundary Bay. Considering both the originally mapped and extended lengths, the Birch Bay and Sandy Point faults could rupture in reverse-faulting earthquakes up to Mw 6.7-7.4 and 6.8-7.5, respectively, with seafloor uplift up to 2-2.5 m triggering damaging tsunami waves (up to at least 2.5 m) that could arrive onshore with little to no warning after the shaking begins. Similarly, the Fraser River Delta fault could host reverse or dextral-reverse slip earthquakes up to Mw 7.0-7.6, with seafloor uplift of 0.6-3.5 m. Ruptures on the Skipjack Island fault would likely have a larger strike-slip component; earthquakes of Mw 6.9-7.3 produce modelled seafloor uplift of 0.5-1.9 m. These results suggest that large tsunamigenic earthquakes on crustal faults in the southern Strait of Georgia should be included in future seismic and tsunami hazard assessments on both sides of the international border. / Graduate

The Maputaland Coastal Plain in Kwa Zulu-Natal is covered by aeolian sands . According to the national wetland delineation manual delineating wetlands in this area is complex due to problematic wetland soils. The aim of this study was to classify and describe the vegetation of the different zones of the wetland systems to determine the main drivers of the plant communities. The understanding of these complex ecosystems could assist in wetland delineation. Twenty wetlands from five wetland systems were surveyed. The vegetation zones of each wetland were sampled and basic environmental data were collected. The results from this study indicate that different plant species assemblages are characteristic for the wetland zones. However, zone delineation using vegetation composition varies between the different wetland systems, and should be evaluated according to the system in question. The major determinants of the vegetation communities in wetlands on the MCP are the substrate type and hydrological regime / Environmental Sciences / M.Sc. (Environmental Management)

La aplicación del ensayo de penetración estándar (SPT) conlleva a un nivel de detalle alto, así mismo es costosa, requiere de mano de obra calificada para su ejecución y es demorada; su utilización es recomendada en suelos arenosos, restrictiva en suelos finos y plásticos y no recomendada en los demás tipos de suelos. Mientras que en el Análisis multicanal de ondas superficiales (MASW) su ejecución no se restringe, permite abarcar grandes áreas en tiempos cortos, no obstante, es un método indirecto, razón por la cual su aplicación debe ser verificada mediante perforaciones, obtención de muestras, y altos criterios de análisis. En los últimos años la implementación y mejoramiento de las técnicas de prospección de suelos ha permitido investigar la relación de dichos ensayos con diferentes parámetros del suelo. En la presente se desarrolló una correlación empírica entre los ensayos geotécnicos SPT mediante el número de golpes de resistencia a la penetración (N60) con el valor de las velocidades de ondas de corte (Vs) de los ensayos geofísicos MASW, se realizaron en 30 puntos del distrito de Juliaca para los suelos arenosos. Se contó con un filtro final de 110 pares ordenados de datos (Vs; N60); mediante el análisis de regresión potencial por el método de mínimos cuadrados donde se obtuvo la ecuación: Vs = 81.079*N600.2646; y un coeficiente de determinación R2:0.76. Esta ecuación fue puesta en análisis comparativo con las ecuaciones de las correlaciones de la literatura, en el cual se encontró una tendencia acorde a las mismas, lo que permitirá utilizarla con suelos afines a la región. / The application of the standard penetration test (SPT) entails a high level of detail, it is also expensive, requires qualified labor for its execution and is time-consuming; Its use is recommended in sandy soils, restrictive in fine and plastic soils and not recommended in other types of soils. While in the multichannel analysis of surface waves (MASW) its execution is not restricted, it allows covering large areas in short times, however, it is an indirect method, which is why its application must be verified by drilling, obtaining samples, and high analytical criteria. In recent years, the implementation and improvement of soil prospecting techniques has made it possible to carry out studies of the relationship of said tests with different soil parameters. In the present, an empirical correlation was developed between the SPT geotechnical tests by means of the number of penetration resistance blows (N60) with the value of the shear wave velocities (Vs) of the MASW geophysical tests, these tests were carried out in 30 points in the city of Juliaca for sandy soils. There was a final filter of 110 ordered pairs of data (Vs; N60); Through the analysis of potential regression by the method of least squares, the equation was obtained: Vs = 81.079*N600.2646; of the determination coefficient R2:0.76, it was determined that the correlation is acceptable. This equation was put into analysis and comparison with the equations of the correlations of the literature, in which it was found in a trend according to them. / Tesis

Thesis (M.Sc. Agriculture. (Soil Science)) -- University of Limpopo, 2022 / The constant growth experienced by the coffee industry has led to the high-volume production of coffee waste worldwide. One of the main coffee wastes is spent coffee ground (SCG), a residue obtained after the ground coffee beans are treated under pressure. The present study was aimed to investigate the utilization of SCG to amend soil physicochemical properties. This study was conducted at Greenhouse Biotechnologies Research Centre of Excellence, University of Limpopo, South Africa, where the effect of various rates of SCG concentration in volume percentage (vol%) was tested for a period of nine months. The spent coffee ground residue was collected from four restaurants at Haenertsburg, and the application rates were 0, 5, 10, 20, 30, 50 vol%. To evaluate the change in soil physicochemical properties overtime, the incubation period was divided into four test periods namely T1 was after a month, T3 after 3 months, T6 after 6 months, and T9 after 9 months. Physicochemical properties including nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), total organic carbon (TOC), cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), zinc (Zn), and lead (Pb), pH, electrical conductivity (EC), C:N ratio, large macroaggregates (LM), small macroaggregates (sM), microaggregates (m), unaggregated silt and clay (s+c), mean weight diameter (MWD) and soil moisture content (SMC) were quantified at the end of each test period. Results revealed that the interaction between incubation periods and various SCG application rates significantly (p<0.05) increased pHw, EC, MWD, LM, base cations and significantly decreased TOC, heavy metals, SMC, m, and sM. Spent coffee ground increased pHw and EC of the soil at all application rates and reached a maximum of 7.8 units at T6 in treatment SCG-5 and 202.30 S/cm at T9 in treatment SCG-50 above the control respectively. Total organic carbon increased by 548% above control in the highest treatment (SCG-50) at T1, but, however, started declining from T3 in all treatments across the incubation period. SCG’s highest application rates (SCG-20 to SCG-50) reduced the soil Cd toxicity (threshold of >2 mg/kg), but however, also reduced the availability of micronutrients (Cu and Zn) during the incubation period. At T9, Mg, Ca, K, and P increased from mean values of 55.9 to 77.9, 40.9 to 62.2, 77.4 to 112, and 22.0 to 30.0 mg/Kg above control in treatments with high application rates. LM increased whilst sM, and m decreased across the incubation period in all treatments. MWD increased by 46% at T1 and reached its maximum of 56% at T6 in treatment SCG-50 above control. Additionally, there was a positive relationship between LM and MWD. Soil moisture content however increased to 60.26% at T1 in treatment SCG-50 and decreased from T3 across the incubation period. Spent coffee ground has the potential to be used as a liming material, a chelating agent, and for water management in semi-arid areas. It retains and cycles nutrients and improves soil structure through aggregation. However, research should be done in field conditions to access the effectiveness of this residue. / NRF

In recent years, social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook have emerged as effective tools for broadcasting messages worldwide during disaster events. With millions of messages posted through these services during such events, it has become imperative to identify valuable information that can help the emergency responders to develop effective relief efforts and aid victims. Many studies implied that the role of social media during disasters is invaluable and can be incorporated into emergency decision-making process. However, due to the "big data" nature of social media, it is very labor-intensive to employ human resources to sift through social media posts and categorize/classify them as useful information. Hence, there is a growing need for machine intelligence to automate the process of extracting useful information from the social media data during disaster events. This dissertation addresses the following questions: In a social media stream of messages, what is the useful information to be extracted that can help emergency response organizations to become more situationally aware during and following a disaster? What are the features (or patterns) that can contribute to automatically identifying messages that are useful during disasters? We explored a wide variety of features in conjunction with supervised learning algorithms to automatically identify messages that are useful during disaster events. The feature design includes sentiment features to extract the geo-mapped sentiment expressed in tweets, as well as tweet-content and user detail features to predict the likelihood of the information contained in a tweet to be quickly spread in the network. Further experimentation is carried out to see how these features help in identifying the informative tweets and filter out those tweets that are conversational in nature.

Early life stages of many marine and diadromous fish species use sandy beach surf zones, which occur along >50% of the world's marine coastlines. This extensive habitat can provide juvenile fishes with an abundant supply of potential prey and the ability to hide from predators in its shallow turbid waters. Chinook salmon is an anadromous species that migrates to the ocean during their first (subyearlings) or second (yearlings) year of life. The majority of subyearlings reside in estuaries during their first summer season; however, a small number of juveniles also use surf zones. Early marine residence is considered a critical period for Chinook salmon due to high mortality rates; however the role of surf zones in Chinook salmon life history is unclear. Therefore, I determined the distribution of juvenile Chinook salmon on beaches of the eastern North Pacific, compared the migration and growth patterns observed in surf zones and estuaries, identified the factors that accounted for variation in juvenile surf zone catch, explored the factors that influence growth rate variation in surf zones and estuaries, and modeled how growth rates in these coastal habitats may vary in the near future with predicted changes in climate. The majority (94%) of juveniles were caught in surf zones adjacent to estuaries with trough areas, which are beach sections where sand moved by currents and waves produce a trench-like shape. Surf zone fish were collected in significantly lower numbers than estuarine juveniles but entered brackish/ocean waters at similar sizes. Juveniles in surf zones consumed similar organisms (gammarid amphipods, crustacean larvae and insects) as in estuaries. Furthermore, stomach fullness indices (average = 2% of body weight) and growth rates (average = 0.4 mm day�����) were similar in surf zones and estuaries. At one surf zone, juvenile catch was positively correlated to short-term specific growth rates (14 days prior to capture). A bioenergetics modeling approach indicated that given current conditions, consumption rates accounted for more of the variation in growth than prey energetic content and temperature. Climate models predict future increases in fresh water temperature (1.5 to 5.8��C), sea surface temperature (1.2��C) and wave height (0.75 m) that could influence estuarine and surf zone use. Therefore, I developed a local mixing model based on these predictions to estimate future surf zone and estuarine water temperatures in two of the watersheds studied. Based on these temperature projections and the bioenergetics model, I predicted how juvenile specific growth rates would vary in both habitats. I determined that increases in water temperature in both habitats would reduce specific growth rates by 9 to 40% in surf zones and estuaries if diet composition and consumption rates remain similar to present conditions. To compensate for the decline in growth, juveniles may increase their consumption rates or consume more energetically rich prey, if available. If they are not able to compensate, their size at the end of the season may be reduced, which could reduce their overall survival. These results confirm that a small number of suyearling Chinook salmon use sandy beach surf zones, mostly adjacent to estuary mouths, where they experience growth conditions comparable to estuaries. My findings indicate that, in certain situations, juvenile Chinook salmon surf zone use can be influenced by surf zone growth conditions, while variation in growth rates are themselves most strongly influenced by variation in consumption rates in surf zones and estuaries. Predicted changes in coastal western North American climate will likely modify juvenile growth conditions in the next 50 years, and potentially reduce overall survival. Additional insights into the potential impacts of climate change on juvenile salmon will require estimates of changes in the composition, energetic quality and abundance of prey communities inhabiting coastal environments. / Graduation date: 2013

The present thesis is an attempt to investigate the interference effects on the magnitudes of the ultimate failure loads for a group of closely spaced strip footings and strip plate anchors. On account of an increase in the number of different civil engineering structures, footings and anchors are often need to be placed very close to each other. In such a situation, the ultimate bearing capacity/pullout capacity of an interfering footing/anchor becomes significantly different from that of a single isolated footing/anchor. The effect of interference on the magnitude of failure load is usually expressed in terms of an efficiency factor (%y); where £,y is defined as the ratio of the magnitude of the failure load for a strip footing/anchor of a given width in the presence of other footings/anchors to that of the magnitude of the failure load for an isolated single strip footing/anchor having exactly the same width. No rigorous analysis seems to have been carried out so far in literature to investigate the interference effect for a group of footings and anchors. In the present study, it is intended to use rigorous numerical upper bound limit analysis in combination with finite elements and linear programming in order to determine the collapse loads for the problems of both isolated and a group of footings and anchors. Three noded triangular elements are used throughout the thesis for carrying out the analysis for different problems. The velocity discontinuities are employed along the interfaces of all the elements. The plastic strains within the elements are incorporated by using an associated flow rule. The Mohr Coulomb yield surface is linearised by means of an exterior regular polygon circumscribing the actual failure surface so that the finite element formulation leads to a linear programming problem. In solving the different problems taken in this thesis, computer programs were developed using 'MATLAB' with the usage of 'LINPROG' - a library subprogram for doing the necessary optimization. The bearing capacity factor Ny for an isolated single rigid strip footing placed on a cohesionless ground surface has been computed and its variation with respect to the footing-soil roughness angle (8) has been examined in detail. It is clearly noted that an increase in 8 leads to a continuous increase in Ny. The solution is also obtained for a perfectly rough footing without considering any velocity discontinuity surface along the footing-soil interface. With 5 = <|), the magnitude of NY becomes almost the same as that for a perfectly rough footing. The size of the plastic zone increases with an increase in the values of 8 and <j). The obtained values of Ny for 5=0 and § compare quite favorably with the solutions reported earlier in literature. The ultimate bearing capacity for a group of two and an infinite number of multiple interfering rough strip footings placed on a cohesionless medium has been computed; all the footings are assumed to be perfectly rigid. It is specified that the footings are loaded simultaneously to failure exactly at the same magnitude of the failure load. For different clear spacing (S) between the adjacent footings, the magnitude of the efficiency factor (£,y) is determined. In the case of two footings, the value of E,y at S/B = 0 becomes exactly equal to 2.0, and the maximum ^occurs at a critical spacing (Scr). For S/B < Sor/B, the ultimate bearing pressure for a footing becomes equal to that of an isolated footing having the width (2B+S), and the ground mass encompassed between the two footings deforms mainly in the downward direction. In contrast, for S/B > Scr/B, ground heave is noticed along both the sides of the footing. As compared to the available theories in literature, the analysis presented in this thesis provides generally lower values of ^y for S/B > Scr/B. ' In the case of a group of multiple strip footings, the value of £y is found to increase continuously with a decrease in S/B. The effect of the variation of spacing on §y is found to be very extensive for small values of S/B; the magnitude of ^y approaches infinity at S/B = 0. For all the values of S/B ground heave is invariably observed on both the sides of the footings. The magnitudes of ^Y for given values of S/B and <|) for the two footings case are found to be smaller than the multiple footings case. The vertical uplift capacity of an isolated strip anchor embedded horizontally at shallow depths in sand has been examined; the anchor plate is assumed to be perfectly rigid and rough. The collapse load is expressed in terms of a non-dimensional uplift factor FY, the value of which needs to be known before calculating the failure load for an interfering anchor. The magnitude of Fr is found to increase continuously with increase in both embedment ratio (k) and the friction angle (<|>) of sand. Even though the analysis considers the development of plastic strain within all elements, however, at collapse, the soil mass just above the anchor is found to move as a single rigid block bounded by planar rupture surfaces; the rupture surfaces emerging from the anchor edges are seen to make approximately an angle <|> with the vertical. The vertical uplift capacity of a group of two and an infinite number of multiple interfering rigid rough strip anchors embedded horizontally in sand at shallow depths has been examined. At collapse, it is specified that all the anchors in the group are loaded to failure simultaneously exactly at the same magnitude of the failure load. For different clear spacing (S) between the anchors, the magnitude of the efficiency factor (£Y) is determined. On account of interference, the magnitude of 4y is found to reduce continuously with a decrease in the spacing between the anchors. For all values of X and §, the magnitude of ^y for the multiple anchors case is found to be always smaller than that for the two anchors case. In contrast to a group of footings under compression, the magnitude of ^v for a group of anchors is found to decrease invariably with an increase in $ for a given value of S/B. For S > 2c/tan<j) , the uplift resistance of anchors in the group becomes equal to that of an isolated anchor, and no interference is seen to exist; where d is the depth of anchor. By examining the nodal velocity patterns, it was noted that in the event of collapse, a wedge of soil mass just above the anchors and encompassed within linear rupture surfaces moves vertically upward almost as a single rigid unit with the velocity same as that of the anchor plate itself. On this basis, a closed form solution of the problem has been developed. The results from the closed form solution for the group of two anchors as well as for multiple anchors are found to provide an excellent comparison with the rigorous upper bound numerical solution especially for the value of § greater than or equal to about 35°. For all the problems taken in this study, it has been seen that an upper bound limit analysis in combination with finite elements and linear programming is a very useful numerical tool for determining the magnitudes of collapse loads.

[Truncated abstract] This ethnoecological study examines land uses by modern Martu Aboriginal people on their country. They occupy very remote settlements—Parnngurr, Punmu and Kunawarritji—in the Great and Little Sandy Deserts. In 1990, their country included Crown Lands and Rudall River National Park. The study investigated the proposition that the knowledge and practices of Martu were of direct relevance to ecosystem processes and national park management. This research commenced in the wider Australian research context of the late 1980s – early 90s when prevailing questions were about the role of customary harvest within contemporary Aboriginal society (Altman 1987; Devitt 1988) and the sustainability of species-specific harvests by Australian indigenous people (Bomford & Caughley 1996). Separately, there was a national line of enquiry into Aboriginal roles in natural resource and protected area management (Williams & Hunn 1986; Birckhead et al. 1992). The field work underpinning this study was done in 1986–1988 and quantitative data collected in 1990 whilst the researcher lived on Martu settlements. Ethnographic information was gathered from informal discussions, semi-structured interviews and participant observation on trips undertaken by Martu. A variety of parameters was recorded for each trip in 1990. On trips accompanied by the researcher, details on the plant and animal species collected were quantified. Martu knowledge and observations of Martu behaviour are interpreted in terms of the variety of land uses conducted and transport strategies including vehicle use; the significance of different species collected; socio-economic features of bush food collection; spatio-temporal patterns of foraging; and, the 'management' of species and lands by Martu. The research found that in 1990, hunting and gathering were major activities within the suite of land uses practiced by Martu. At least 40% of trips from the settlements were principally to hunt. More than 43 animal species and 37 plant food species were reported to be collected during the study; additionally, species were gathered for firewood, medicines and timber artefacts. Customary harvesting persisted because of the need for sustenance, particularly when there were low store supplies, as well as other reasons. The weight of bush meats hunted at least equalled and, occasionally, was three times greater than the weights of store meats available to Parnngurr residents. ... Paradoxically, hunting was a subject of significant difference despite it being the principal activity driving Martu expertise and practice. There is potential for comanagement in the National Park but it remains contingent on many factors between both Martu and DEC as well as external to them. The dissertation suggests practical strategies to enhance co-management.