Models for ocean waves

Includes bibliography.Ocean waves represent an important design factor in many coastal engineering applications. Although extreme wave height is usually considered the single most important of these factors there are other important aspects that require consideration. These include the probability distribution of wave heights, the seasonal variation and the persistence, or duration, of calm and storm periods. If one is primarily interested in extreme wave height then it is possible to restrict one's attention to events which are sufficiently separated in time to be effectively independently (and possibly even identically) distributed. However the independence assumption is not tenable for the description of many other aspects of wave height behaviour, such as the persistence of calm periods. For this one has to take account of the serial correlation structure of observed wave heights, the seasonal behaviour of the important statistics, such as mean and standard deviation, and in fact the entire seasonal probability distribution of wave heights. In other words the observations have to be regarded as a time series

Experimental Study of Brittle Behavior of Clay Shale in Rapid Triaxial Compression

The brittle failure behavior of an over-consolidated clay shale (Opalinus Clay) in undrained rapid triaxial compression was studied. The confining stress levels were chosen to simulate the range of confining stresses relevant for underground excavations at the Mont Terri Underground Research Laboratory, and to investigate the transition from axial splitting failure to macroscopic shear failure. Micro-crack initiation was observed throughout the confining stress range utilized in this study at a differential stress of 2.1MPa on average, which indicates that friction was not mobilized at this stage of brittle failure. The rupture stress was dependent on confinement indicating friction mobilization during the brittle failure process. With increasing confinement net volumetric strain decreased suggesting that dilation was suppressed, which is possibly related to a change in the failure mode. At confining stress levels ≤0.5 MPa specimen rupture was associated with axial splitting. With increasing confinement, transition to a macroscopic shearing mode was observed. Multi-stage triaxial tests consistently showed lower strengths than single-stage tests, demonstrating cumulative damage in the specimens. Both the Mohr-Coulomb and Hoek-Brown failure criteria could not satisfactorily fit the data over the entire confining stress range. A bi-linear or S-shaped failure criterion was found to satisfactorily fit the test data over the entire confinement range studie

Critical success factors for offshore airports : a comparative evaluation

The booming aviation sector is worldwide increasingly faced with capacityconstraints at both the land and air side. In recent years various countries have tried toovercome the land-based bottlenecks by the design and construction of new offshoreairports. This paper aims to identify and assess the critical success factors for tworecently built island airports, viz. in Hong Kong and Osaka. The analysis addressessuccess conditions at both the corporate and the regional level. The methodologicalbasis for the comparative investigation deploys the so-called pentagon prism. Theresults show that island airports may seem to offer a favorable land use andenvironmental solution, but face at the same time severe financial and maritimeecology problems

Writing in College: From Competence to Excellence

Writing in College is designed for students who have largely mastered high-school level conventions of formal academic writing and are now moving beyond the five-paragraph essay to more advanced engagement with text. It is well suited to composition courses or first-year seminars and valuable as a supplemental or recommended text in other writing intensive classes. It provides a friendly, down-to-earth introduction to professors’ goals and expectations, demystifying the norms of the academy and how they shape college writing assignments. Each of the nine chapters can be read separately, and each includes suggested exercises to bring the main messages to life. Students will find in Writing in College a warm invitation to join the academic community as novice scholars and to approach writing as a meaningful medium of communication. With concise discussions, clear multidisciplinary examples, and empathy for the challenges of student life, Guptill conveys a welcoming tone. In addition, each chapter includes Student Voices: peer-to-peer wisdom from real SUNY Brockport students about their strategies for and experiences with college writing. While there are many affordable writing guides available, most focus only on sentence-level issues or, conversely, a broad introduction to making the transition. Writing In College, in contrast, provides both a coherent frame for approaching writing assignments and indispensable advice for effective organization and expression

Writing in College: From Competence to Excellence

Writing in College is designed for students who have largely mastered high-school level conventions of formal academic writing and are now moving beyond the five-paragraph essay to more advanced engagement with text. It is well suited to composition courses or first-year seminars and valuable as a supplemental or recommended text in other writing intensive classes. It provides a friendly, down-to-earth introduction to professors’ goals and expectations, demystifying the norms of the academy and how they shape college writing assignments. Each of the nine chapters can be read separately, and each includes suggested exercises to bring the main messages to life. Students will find in Writing in College a warm invitation to join the academic community as novice scholars and to approach writing as a meaningful medium of communication. With concise discussions, clear multidisciplinary examples, and empathy for the challenges of student life, Guptill conveys a welcoming tone. In addition, each chapter includes Student Voices: peer-to-peer wisdom from real SUNY Brockport students about their strategies for and experiences with college writing. While there are many affordable writing guides available, most focus only on sentence-level issues or, conversely, a broad introduction to making the transition. Writing In College, in contrast, provides both a coherent frame for approaching writing assignments and indispensable advice for effective organization and expression

Writing in College: From Competence to Excellence

Writing in College is designed for students who have largely mastered high-school level conventions of formal academic writing and are now moving beyond the five-paragraph essay to more advanced engagement with text. It is well suited to composition courses or first-year seminars and valuable as a supplemental or recommended text in other writing intensive classes. It provides a friendly, down-to-earth introduction to professors’ goals and expectations, demystifying the norms of the academy and how they shape college writing assignments. Each of the nine chapters can be read separately, and each includes suggested exercises to bring the main messages to life. Students will find in Writing in College a warm invitation to join the academic community as novice scholars and to approach writing as a meaningful medium of communication. With concise discussions, clear multidisciplinary examples, and empathy for the challenges of student life, Guptill conveys a welcoming tone. In addition, each chapter includes Student Voices: peer-to-peer wisdom from real SUNY Brockport students about their strategies for and experiences with college writing. While there are many affordable writing guides available, most focus only on sentence-level issues or, conversely, a broad introduction to making the transition. Writing In College, in contrast, provides both a coherent frame for approaching writing assignments and indispensable advice for effective organization and expression

Writing in College: From Competence to Excellence

Writing in College is designed for students who have largely mastered high-school level conventions of formal academic writing and are now moving beyond the five-paragraph essay to more advanced engagement with text. It is well suited to composition courses or first-year seminars and valuable as a supplemental or recommended text in other writing-intensive classes. It provides a friendly, down-to-earth introduction to professors’ goals and expectations, demystifying the norms of the academy and how they shape college writingassignments. Each of the nine chapters can be read separately, and each includes suggested exercises to bring the main messages to life. Students will find in Writing in College a warm invitation to join the academic community as novice scholars and to approach writing as a meaningful medium of communication. With concise discussions, clear multidisciplinary examples, and empathy for the challenges of student life, Guptill conveys a welcoming tone. In addition, each chapter includes Student Voices: peer-to-peer wisdom from real SUNY Brockport students about their strategies for and experiences with college writing. While there are many affordable writing guides available, most focus only on sentence-level issues or, conversely, a broad introduction to making the transition. Writing In College, in contrast, provides both a coherent frame for approaching writing assignments and indispensable advice for effective organization and expression

The evolution of security industry regulation in the European Union

The European private security sector has grown from a handful of small companies at the end of the Second World War into a multi-billion Euro industry with thousands of firms and millions of security staff. In Europe the demands for security is not just expressed notionally but also officially in The European Agenda on Security stating the European Union aims to ensure that people live in an area of freedom, security and justice. This paper will begin by exploring the role of private security in society. It will then move on to consider the main phases in the development of private security regulation in Europe. Following on from this some of the main areas of policy development will be considered, such as European bodies, initiatives and standards. Finally the paper will explore some of the potential op tions for the future in better regulating the European private security sector. From a historical perspective the evolution of private security regulation can be divided into three phases; the Laissez- faire, the centrifugal and the centripetal era - each with its own distinct characteristics and impact on the concurrent industry. In the European Union where there is the legal framework for the development of a single market in services the key social partners have been at the forefront of developing a series of standards and guidance documents which promote standards across borders at the European level. However, the institutions of the European Union have been reluctant to intervene at a European level in setting minimum standards of private security regulation. Thus, the changing terrain of the European Union relating to security, regulation and the private security industry mean the current trajectory may be in need of an injection of more radical thought and consideration

Comparing private security regulation in the European Union

This paper examines the regulatory systems for the private security industry in the European Union (EU). Building upon other studies to compare regulatory systems it proposes a much more sophisticated approach to assess the quality of regulatory systems using 22 different criteria based on two areas: legislation and societal foundations. From this analysis a maximum of 100 points are possible and the paper is able to rank 26 of the 28 member states of the EU. The league table ranks Belgium and Spain as having the most comprehensive regulatory systems in the EU. The paper then provides analysis of some of the key findings from the league table noting some of the implications. One of the most important of which is the substantial differences between member states and the challenges this poses for an effective single market in the provision of security services

Norms, values and corruption - a case study of an EU procurement process in an African country

This chapter will explore the role of morality in corruption, going down a route of examining corruption in the procurement process using a somewhat uncommonly applied axiological lens. It will establish the aspiring diction of the EU in terms of corruption as an expression of a moral high ground on how to intellectually deal with the phenomenon. Problems arise when rhetoric is translated to reality, illustrated by delineating the EU moral stance on corruption and looking how this relates to a case study of corruption in the procurement process. It is argued that universal moral laws do exist, however, they must be dealt with differently in the highly varied cultural context of the world—as long as one remembers, acknowledges and takes into consideration those laws