Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Flood, 1948'

Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2007.
Title from electronic title page (viewed Dec. 11, 2008). "... in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of Geography." Discipline: Geography; Department/School: Geography.

The height of an overflow dam must be designed low enough to prevent the reservoir water level from exceeding a flood plain during flooding conditions. Because of this constraint, much of the available water storage area is wasted and the available pressure head for power generation will be less than maximum during normal conditions. Crest control gates alleviate this problem by providing a variable spillway height. The Flash Gate Board is a passive automatic crest control gate. Its purpose is to regulate flood water while providing increased water pressure for power generation or for additional water storage for a municipality. The governing equations for the Flash Gate Board system are derived and used to formulate models of the system. Computer simulations are used to examine the system response in a variety of operating conditions. The results of these simulations are presented and discussed. The results include an investigation which developed an optimum gate height to maximize the potential of the Flash Gate Board. An experimental model was developed to verify analytical results and to provide additional insight. Conclusions from the study, recommendations for future work, and modifications for a trouble-free design are discussed.
Master of Science

Extreme rainfall events and consequent floods are being observed more frequently in the Western Black Sea region in Turkey as climate changes. In this study, application of a flood early warning system is intended by using and calibrating a combined model system. A regional-scale hydro-meteorological model system, consisting of Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, NOAH land surface model and fully distributed NOAH-Hydro hydrologic models, is used for simulations of 25 heavy-rainfall and major flooding events observed in the Western Black Sea region between years 2000 and 2011. The performance of WRF model system in simulating precipitation is tested with 3-dimensional variational (3DVAR) data assimilation scheme. WRF-derived precipitation with and without data assimilation and Multi Precipitation Estimates (MPE) are used in NOAH-Hydro model to simulate streamflow for flood events. Statistical precipitation analyses show that WRF model with 3DVAR improved precipitation up to 12% with respect to no-assimilation. MPE algorithm generally underestimates rainfall and it also showed lower performance than WRF model with and without data assimilation. Depending on reliability of precipitation inputs, NOAH-Hydro model produces reasonable flood hydrographs both in structure and volume. After model calibration is performed using assimilated precipitation inputs in Bartin Basin, NOAH-Hydro model reduced the average error in streamflow by 23.24% and 53.57% with calibration for testing events. With calibrated parameters, NOAH-Hydro model forced by WRF non-assimilated precipitation input also reduced the error in streamflow but with lower rates (16.67% and 40.72%). With a proper model calibration and reliable precipitation inputs, hydrologic modeling system is capable of simulating flood events.

The Water Resources Development Act of 1986 has increased attention to the ability of flood control benefit assessment methods to serve the joint need of assessing the economic and financial feasibility of a project. The Contingent Value Method is identified as an alternative flood control benefit assessment method. The findings of a case study to test the potential for the Contingent Value Method to be used in future flood control benefit assessment studies is presented. An empirical analysis of willingness to pay offers is conducted to determine the importance of property and nonproperty considerations in willingness to pay is also presented. The study findings suggest that landowners are willing to pay for the property effects and the effects of flood control on the community at large. The study findings do not support a relationship between willingness to pay for flood control and the landowner's level of anxiety over the prospect of future flooding. The findings do suggest that the contingent value method has the potential to be applied to flood control. Prior to any such application, however, several survey design and implementation issues need to be addressed.
Ph. D.

In 1879 Congress created the Mississippi River Commission (MRC) to develop and coordinate federal flood control policy for the Lower Mississippi River. Through 1927, that Commission clung stubbornly to a "levees-only" policy that was based on the mistaken belief that levees alone could be effective in controlling the flood waters of the Mississippi River. When the levees failed--and they occasionally did--the MRC responded by raising and strengthening the system but refused to adopt a more comprehensive program, one which would include outlets and reservoirs. Finally, a disastrous flood in 1927 forced the abandonment of levees-only and the adoption of a comprehensive plan for the Lower Mississippi River. Predictably, the MRC faced heavy criticism following the failure of its highly-touted levee system in 1927. While certainly the Commission was culpable, there was plenty of fault to go around and a plethora of mitigating circumstances. Developing a plan for achieving adequate flood control along the lower Mississippi River constituted what was probably the most difficult and complex engineering problem ever undertaken by the U. S. Government. Additionally, there were innumerable political and financial constraints that worked to shape MRC policy. This study will endeavor to tell the story of the MRC from its earliest origins through the landmark 1928 Flood Control Act, and, in the process, give evidence to the reality that the Commission did not function independently. As an organization, it relied upon outside forces for its membership, for its jurisdiction, and for the appropriations necessary to carry out its policies. Significantly, these forces were politically driven and did not always, or even often, share the MRC's priorities for the Lower Mississippi River. Even so, the MRC accomplished a great deal in its efforts to protect the Valley from moderate floods, to improve the navigability of the Mississippi River, and to expand significantly the body of knowledge available on the "Father of Waters."

What is happening on the dance floor at the gay and lesbian dance parties? What are lesbians and gay men doing when they dance? This thesis presents a project in performance research that takes as its locus on investigation the dance parties that have been produced annually by gay and lesbian organisations in Sydney since the early 1980s. In particular, it focuses on the largest of these dance parties, Mardi Gras Party and Sleaze Ball, during a period of research from 1994 to 1998. Harnessing these resources, the thesis aims at investigating how dance parties sustain an ongoing salience for gay men and lesbians in Sydney. On the basis of ethnographic research, performance documentation, and movement analysis, the investigation pursues an analytical trajectory across the making of dance parties within a subcultural scene, to the doing of dance parties as performance events, and then onto the dance floor as a site for performative practice. Responding to a persistent debate about straights at the parties, the anlayses register the salience of dancing as an etiquette of doing dance party as it is done, as a queer kinaesthesia sustained on the dance floor, and as an occasional community danced into existence. The thesis attests to the pertinence of analysing movement. It analyses the mobility of practice, rather than its textual residue; the kinaesthesia of performative identities, rather than their morphological contours; and the choregraphy of community, rather than its substantive contents. Recognising that queer theory too has an interest in movement, in proliferating metaphors for the mobility of queer identifications and desires, the thesis argues in conclusion that such metaphors represent imaginative flights of fancy to the extent that they fail to grasp the corporeality of queer kinaesthesia
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The governments of Scotland and England have responded to the increase in flood risk by introducing legislation intended to manage present day flood risk and to avoid future flood risk. This thesis evaluates how the new policy regime has evolved and been implemented in Scotland and England, focusing particularly in Local Authorities, and using contrasts in rural and urban settings to reveal how the policy has had to be adapted to apply effectively in these different physical and administrative environments. Based on discourse theory and the institutionalisation features of policy networks, it is argued first that the new policy regime is subject to multiple interpretations and, second that policy change occurs as a result of the transformation of institutional practices of the multiple flood governance discourses by policy narratives in the policy process. The concept of the advocacy coalition framework is applied to reveal how contrasting local governance approaches result from continuous interactions between national policies and distinctive, local factors. These arguments are supported by the results of empirical research that examined policy change and local governance interpretation through textual analysis of relevant policy documents, interviews with key institutional stakeholders and participant observation of a local stakeholder meeting. Research findings reveal how the more pro-active local governance approaches serve as innovators in informing future national policies. This process stems from local interpretation of existing national policy through the mediating effects of distinctive local policy factors that result in the introduction of new policy ideas and actors. These ideas and the involvement of new actors are in turn transferred through revisions to national policies of flood risk governance. Consequently the policy mediating features of Local Authorities are manifest through first, the utility of policy narratives in driving national policy change and second, in shaping policies in local governance approaches.

In the decades following World War II, the Louisiana National Guard evolved due to world, national, and local events. In response to the United States’ Cold War policies to contain Communism, the Guard expanded, professionalized, and was occasionally called to federal service. In conjunction with Cold War fears of external attack and internal subversion, a civil defense mission brought coordination between federal, state and local response agencies. Despite the lack of large scale war service or an attack on the U.S. homeland , the skills and responsibilities acquired by the Louisiana Guard during this time period resulted in an enhanced ability to respond to Louisiana’s biggest practical threat, i.e. natural disasters.

Now all but forgotten, the songs of Sidney Homer (1864-1953) were at one time well-regarded and often performed. Married to the great American contralto Louise Homer, he was in a unique position to have his songs performed by the great artists of the time. Unlike the cloying "parlor songs" of many of his contemporaries, his works consistently demonstrate a respect for both the great poets as well as the European art-song tradition. One of the most cosmopolitan of the American composers of his day, his involvement with Louise's career brought him into contact with many of the great composers and performers of the day including Massenet, Puccini, Humperdinck, Mahler, Toscanini and Caruso. When viewed in their entirety, his songs reveal not only a tremendous variety, but also the maturation of his compositional style.

In this study a time based bidding framework is developed which is used for dispatching jobs to manufacturing resources in a virtual shop-floor environment. Agent-based shop-floor control approach is implemented with machine and part agents. The Contract-net communication protocol is utilized as the negotiation scheme between these agents. Single step product reservation (SSPR) technique is adopted throughout the study. Primary objective is determined as meeting the due dates and if the lateness is inevitable, avoiding the parts of high priority from being late. A balanced machine utilization rate is set as the secondary objective. During bid construction step, the SSPR technique is augmented with W(SPT+CR) sequencing rule in order to obtain weighted tardiness results. Bids containing Earliest Finishing Time (EFT) and machine loading values of the corresponding machine are evaluated with considering the priority of the part. An elimination algorithm which discards the highly deviated bids having obvious differences is implemented at the initial stage of the bid evaluation step. A basic algorithm to control the maximum tardiness value is applied, as well. A simulation test bed is developed in order to implement the time concept into the presented bidding framework. The test bed is mainly based on the Computer Integrated Manufacturing Laboratory (CIMLAB) located in Middle East Technical University, Department of Mechanical Engineering. The developed bidding algorithm is tested under several cases. Results revealed that the proposed bidding framework was quite successful in meeting the objectives. The study is concluded with some specific future work, outlined in the light of the results obtained.

Orientador: Lucí Hidalgo Nunes
Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Geociências
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Resumo: Totalizando um terço de todos os desastres naturais mundiais (SMITH, 2004), as inundações são eventos naturais, podendo ter suas consequências agravadas por ações antrópicas, como a urbanização, falta de planejamento urbano e ocupações de áreas de risco. Essa é a realidade de grande parte dos centros urbanos do Brasil, onde se inclui a cidade de Campinas (SP). A pesquisa teve como objetivo analisar, para esse município, os impactos relacionados às chuvas extremas entre 1958 e 2007, avaliando o padrão sócioespacial nas suas distribuições. Foram utilizados quatro postos pluviométricos para o levantamento dos episódios extremos, identificados de acordo com a técnica dos quantis. A partir da delimitação desses dias, os impactos associados às chuvas foram levantados nos jornais Correio Popular, Diário do Povo (jornais locais), O Estado de São Paulo, Folha de São Paulo e na Defesa Civil do município. As informações foram analisadas de acordo com 5 décadas e percebeu-se um aumento considerável na quantidade de impactos registrados: foram 129 na primeira década e 3837 na última. A análise dos dados também permitiu perceber que os bairros de baixa e média renda são maioria em grande parte dos registros. Dos 34 tipos de impactos registrados, 16 ocorreram com mais frequência em áreas de baixa renda (destacando-se os casos de alagamento e risco de desabamento de imóveis, desabrigados e mortos), 15 em áreas de renda média (destacando-se alagamento de vias e desabamento total ou parcial de imóveis) e 2 em áreas de alta renda (atraso em obras e danos em imóveis). Assim, percebe-se que os fenômenos extremos afetam mais rotineiramente e de maneira mais dramática os grupos sociais menos favorecidos. Porém, bairros de todos os extratos sociais foram afetados, mostrando que praticamente toda a população está exposta a risco, ainda que de diferentes magnitudes, o que se coloca como um aspecto relevante para o poder público. A pesquisa também contou com a análise dos Planos Diretores e de Gestão Urbana de Campinas, assim como programas executados pela Prefeitura que visam a diminuição das inundações no município. Nota-se que grande parte dos pontos abordados nesses documentos oficiais como áreas críticas de inundação eram compatíveis com os locais levantados em jornais e na Defesa Civil. As questões climáticas não foram abordadas nos planos de maneira direta: apenas há a ideia implícita da ocorrência de chuvas (não havendo menção às suas intensidades), quando há a referência às inundações. Os assuntos relacionados às inundações e que aparecem com frequência nos planos analisados são: áreas verdes, impermeabilização do solo, ocupação de áreas de risco, remoção e reassentamento de famílias e política habitacional
Abstract: Floods are natural events but they correspond to a third of all natural disasters worldwide (Smith, 2004) and their consequences can be aggravated by human activities, such as urbanization, lack of urban planning and occupation of risk areas. These facts occur on most urban centers in Brazil, including the city of Campinas (SP). The research aimed to analyze the impacts of extreme precipitation events between 1958 and 2007 for Campinas and to estimate the socio-spatial pattern of their distributions. Data of four rain gauges were used for the analysis of extreme events identified according to the quantis technique. The impacts associated with the rains were reported in the newspaper Correio Popular, Diário do Povo (local newspapers), O Estado de São Paulo as well the Civil Defense. Analyses were performed for five decades and showed a considerable increase in the number of impacts recorded: 129 in the first decade and 3,837 in the last. The data analysis also allowed to realize that the areas of low and medium income are the majority in most of the records. Of the total impacts, 16 occurred more frequently in low-income areas (with emphasis on cases of flooding and risk of collapse of buildings, homeless and dead), 15 in middle income areas (in particular, flooding of roads and total or partial collapse of buildings) and 2 in high-income (under construction delays and damage to properties). Thus, it was noticed that the extreme phenomena affect more routinely and dramatically low income social groupings. However, the neighborhoods of all social classes were affected, showing that the entire population is exposed to risk, although in different magnitudes, which is a relevant aspect for the government. The research also included the analysis of Master Plans of Campinas, as well as executed programs by the local government to reduce flooding in the city. It was noticed that most of the places presented as critical areas to flooding in the official documents were compatible with the areas that really presented problems, according to the survey in local newspapers and on Civil Defense. Climate issues were not reported in the plans in a direct way: there is only the implicit idea of the rainfall occurrence (there was no mention of their intensities) when there is a reference to flooding. The issues related to flooding that appear with frequency in the plans analyzed are: green areas, soil impermeabilization, risk areas occupation, transference of families and resettlement and housing policy
Mestrado
Análise Ambiental e Dinâmica Territorial
Mestre em Geografia

For almost 200 years the University College of Physical Education and Sports in Stockholm (former Royal Central Institute of Gymnastics; GCI later GIH; Stockholm College of Physical Education and Sports) has been educating PE teachers - and still does. In the very beginning and throughout the first 100 years, gymnastics was a major part of the studies at the institute, and also in ordinary schools. Early gymnastics were invented by Per Henrik Ling, the father of the Swedish Ling gymnastics, and later developed by his son, Hjalmar Ling. The part of the Ling system called pedagogical gymnastics, consisted of “daily gymnastic training exercises”, which showed how gymnastics should be taught and performed. The aim of this thesis is to follow and describe gymnastics as a subject and its development at the PE teacher-training programme at GCI/GIH. Special attention is placed on the movement part without apparatus (the floor exercise) for male and female students. The time period studied is 1944 to 1992. The thesis consists of two separate empirical studies, with a shared interview study of 12 former teacher educators participating in both studies. Besides the above-mentioned interviews, the methods used are document analyses and visual analyses. Triangulation is used in order to follow the changes of the subject’s content, figuration and representation. The first empirical study investigates the institution of gymnastics’- collective memory, its content and legitimacy. This is done by looking at what time was allotted to the subject in relation to other subjects, and also which concepts were used in relation to floor exercise. The interviews deal with the objectives of the subject and what kind of influences the former teacher educators came in contact with. From a semiotic approach, the second study deals with visual analyses of film sequences, with floor exercises performed by male and female students. (See enclosed CD). The film material comes from the Institute’s events. The content and composition of the film sequences are analysed, and the representation of the movements is interpreted by semiotic discourse analyses. The interview study deals with the former teacher educators’ pedagogical view of the formation of the gymnastics. The results show that in 1944 the subject gymnastics took approximately 40% of the total study time. In 1992 the time allocated for gymnastics has been reduced to approximately 9%. From the 1940s to the 1970s, two separate gymnastics discourses existed, one male and one female, expressed in the movement content and in the figuration of movements. The male discourse was maintained almost intact, without any changes. The female discourse, on the other hand, was continually changed and developed over the actual period of time, strongly influenced by rhythmic and dance. When coeducation was implemented in the late 1970s, a new culture of body movements was developed – which was unisex. Between 1949 and1970 in the film material, the masculine discourse was represented by the body image of a systematically trained and disciplined body, executing corrective gymnastics exercises, according to an instrumental way of looking at physical training. The smooth, healthy looking young body image of a woman, executing rhythmical aesthetical gymnastics, according to existing values, characterised the feminine discourse. There seems to have been aesthetics fostering rationality that ruled the female gymnastics. In 1985 the representation of the body image changed, and focus on the performance of the movements disappeared. The objectives of the subject have changed from the collective, corrective and/or aesthetical form of gymnastics to a gymnastic discourse where the attention of simplifying the movements, the individual and the social climate in the group are central. Finally, the findings show that four factors have influenced the changes and development of the subject and the teacher-training programme. Firstly, changes in society in terms of equality, gender roles and a changed role of the PE teacher. Secondly, the impact of the sport discourse outweighed the status of the gymnastics discourse and its legitimacy. The cultivating values, in terms of the aesthetical schooling for the female students, disappeared. Thirdly, the striving for research-related instructions in the teachertraining programme, (urged by the state from 1977) affected both time allotments for gymnastics and sports and the relation between theoretical and practical courses. Finally, over the years, the subject gymnastics has been strongly influenced by different scientific discourses: first the medical discourse, followed by the physiological discourse and from the1980s and on, by the social scientific (pedagogical) discourse.

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The film Pink Floyd The Wall, adaptation to the cinema of the Pink Floyd´s concept album, tells the Pink´s story, a musician, that was born in England during the World War II final years, he had his father died in a battle and this fact start a process of depression and melancholy that culminate in his total apathy towards life. This research has its focus on the literary content of the songs from the original album, the aim is study the film formal structure, its differences, similarities and complementarities comparing to the album narrative, observing the translation and artistic recreation process from the album to the movie and also confirming the dialogical relations between the different problems, contextualization, languages and representations explored in this art piece.
O filme Pink Floyd The Wall, adaptação para o cinema do álbum conceitual da banda Pink Floyd, narra a história, desde a infância até sua completa alienação, do protagonista Pink, um músico nascido na Inglaterra nos anos finais da Segunda Guerra Mundial, cuja morte do pai durante a guerra lhe desencadeia um processo de depressão e melancolia que culmina em sua total apatia diante da vida. A presente pesquisa, tendo como foco o teor literário das canções do álbum original, tem por objetivo o estudo da estrutura formal do tecido fílmico, suas diferenças, semelhanças e complementaridades com a narrativa musical contida no álbum, observando e constatando os processos de tradução e recriação de uma obra para outra, além das relações dialógicas entre as diferentes problemáticas, contextualizações, linguagens e representações exploradas na obra.

Thesis (M.S.)--Florida State University, 2004.
Advisor: Dr. Paul Ruscher, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Meteorology. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Jan 18, 2005). Includes bibliographical references.