From the Proceedings of the 1971 Meetings of the Arizona Section - American Water Resources Assn. and the Hydrology Section - Arizona Academy of Science - April 22-23, 1971, Tempe, Arizona / Playa lakes usually occur in arid or semiarid regions where lands are flat and there is an absence of well-developed surface drainage nets. They are usually filled by surface runoff from highly erratic precipitation patterns. There are about 20,000 of them in the high plains of Texas and their volume of storage is an estimated 2.5-3 maf. As such, they represent a major underutilized water source. The major drawbacks to their utilization are high evaporation losses, questionable depth-area relations and the stochastic nature of the rainfall source. This paper assumes that the water is available and presents a dynamic programming model useful in determining the optimal utilization of the water for irrigation. If irrigation is the major use, its timing of application is of paramount importance. A deterministic dynamic programming model, utilizing the state variables of antecedent soil moisture and amount of available water, is presented, and provides the time and amount of irrigation required to maximize crop response. A better stochastic model is also presented which considers rainfall probability and resulting lake filling. The models are only first attempts and do not incorporate all possible variables.

From the Proceedings of the 1976 Meetings of the Arizona Section - American Water Resources Assn. and the Hydrology Section - Arizona Academy of Science - April 29-May 1, 1976, Tucson, Arizona / Energy budget evaluations of evapotranspiration from saltcedar were carried out on the flood plain of the Rio Grande River, near Bernardo, New Mexico. The site was adjacent to the Bureau of Reclamation's lysimeter study of water use by saltcedar. The energy budget for the cloudless day of June 14, 1975, revealed that energy gains from net radiation totaled 432 cal/cm² , while energy losses (in cal/cm2 ), were 14 to stored energy, 31 to convection, and 387 to evapotranspiration (ET). The energy loss to ET is equivalent to the latent energy contained in about 6.5 mm of water. The energy budget values are reasonable for a phreatophyte community in a semi-arid environment. The latent energy loss compares favorably with 401 cal/cm² measured by three lysimeters, although there were discrepancies in timing and amounts of loss among the individual lysimeters. The mean canopy diffusion resistance was 1.90 sec/cm over a 10-hour daytime period on June 14. The mean resistance was combined with vapor pressure deficit to predict lysimeter ET on three subsequent days. The agreement was within 12 percent, which suggests that diffusion resistance may be useful for simple ET predictions.

Near-surface soil moisture is a key state variable of the hydrologic cycle and plays a significant role in the global water and energy balance by affecting several hydrological, ecological, meteorological, geomorphologic, and other natural processes in the land-atmosphere continuum. Presence of soil moisture in the root zone is vital for the crop and plant life cycle. Soil moisture distribution is highly non-linear across time and space. Various geophysical factors (e.g., soil properties, topography, vegetation, and weather/climate) and their interactions control the spatio-temporal evolution of soil moisture at various scales. Understanding these interactions is crucial for the characterization of soil moisture dynamics occurring in the vadose zone. This dissertation focuses on understanding the spatio-temporal variability of near-surface soil moisture and the associated physical control(s) across varying measurement support (point-scale and passive microwave airborne/satellite remote sensing footprint-scale), spatial extents (field-, watershed-, and regional-scale), and changing hydro-climates. Various analysis techniques (e.g., time stability, geostatistics, Empirical Orthogonal Function, and Singular Value Decomposition) have been employed to characterize near-surface soil moisture variability and the role of contributing physical control(s) across space and time. Findings of this study can be helpful in several hydrological research/applications, such as, validation/calibration and downscaling of remote sensing data products, planning and designing effective soil moisture monitoring networks and field campaigns, improving performance of soil moisture retrieval algorithm, flood/drought prediction, climate forecast modeling, and agricultural management practices.

Text in English / Research on employee turnover dates back many decades. However, this research traditionally focused on either understanding turnover intentions or the factors preceding turnover, such as job satisfaction. Despite the challenge in SA being huge and organisations struggling to keep their talent, the research on employee turnover is quite limited. Understanding the different variables that influence employee turnover and providing practical solutions on how to mitigate turnover would be valuable to many organisations. The aim of this research project was to understand the role of personality and organisational climate in employee turnover. In addition, a comprehensive model of employee turnover was developed and tested. The Five Factor Model was used to conceptualise personality, while (due to the limited nature of existing models) a new model was designed to conceptualise organisational climate. A sample of 1 536 people was drawn from a large retail organisation in SA, with 807 stayers and 729 leavers. Biographical, personality and organisational climate information was collected over a two-year period for both samples. Results of the study were mixed; there were no significant differences in the two samples regarding the big five personality factors, except when nine bipolar scales were used. On these scales, leavers were found to be more assertive, persuasive and optimistic than stayers. All five personality factors moderated HR policies & procedures in determining turnover. There were differences between the stayers and leavers samples with regard to age, gender, tenure and absenteeism. Organisational climate was a key determinant of whether people left or stayed and organisations had more than one climate. Personality, organisational climate and absenteeism accounted for 29% of turnover. The proposed model of employee turnover met most of the requirements of goof fit measures when using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). / Psychology / D.Litt. et Phil.

Offshore renewable energy systems, such as Wave Energy Converters or an Offshore Wind Turbine, must be designed to withstand extremes of the weather environment. For this, it is crucial both to have a good understanding of the wave and wind climate at the intended offshore site, and of the system reaction and possible failures to different weather scenarios. Based on these considerations, the first objective of this thesis was to model and identify the extreme wind speed and significant wave height at an offshore site, based on measured wave and wind data. The extreme wind speeds and wave heights were characterized as return values after 10, 25, 50, and 100 years, using the Generalized Extreme Value method. Based on a literature review, fragility curves for wave and wind energy systems were identified as function of significant wave height and wind speed. For a wave energy system, a varying failure rate as function of the wave height was obtained from the fragility curves, and used to model the resilience of a wave energy farm as a function of the wave climate. The cases of non-constant and constant failure rates were compared, and it was found that the non-constant failure rate had a high impact on the wave energy farm's resilience. When a non-constant failure rate as a function of wave height was applied to the energy wave farm, the number of Wave Energy Converters available in the farm and the absorbed energy from the farm are nearly zero. The cases for non-constant and an averaged constant failure of the instantaneous non-constant failure rate as a function of wave height were also compared, and it was discovered that investigating the resilience of the wave energy farm using the averaged constant failure rate of the non-constant failure rate results in better resilience. So, based on the findings of this thesis, it is recommended that identifying and characterizing offshore extreme weather climates, having a high repair rate, and having a high threshold limit repair vessel to withstand the harsh offshore weather environment.

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No description available.

Tesis por compendio / [ES] Esta tesis doctoral presenta un estudio de compresores scroll con inyección de vapor (SCVI) para bombas de calor que operan en climas fríos o para aplicaciones de calentamiento de agua a alta temperatura. Para ello, se comparó experimentalmente un SCVI con un compresor de dos etapas de pistones (TSRC) trabajando con R-407C en condiciones extremas. La comparación se realizó en términos de eficiencias del compresor, capacidad, COP y rendimientos estacionales tanto para el modo calefacción como para el modo refrigeración. Los resultados proporcionan una idea general sobre el rango de aplicación de los compresores estudiados y sobre las diferencias en los rendimientos de los compresores. Sin embargo, se identificaron varias limitaciones en la caracterización de los compresores y en el análisis del ciclo. Esto motivó a profundizar en el estudio del ciclo de compresión de dos etapas y sus componentes. El siguiente paso fue realizar un análisis teórico de los ciclos de compresión de dos etapas para aplicaciones de calefacción, en donde se identificó a la presión intermedia y a la relación de inyección como los parámetros del sistema más influyentes sobre el COP. La presión intermedia se optimizó para dos configuraciones de inyección (tanque de separación y economizador) utilizando varios refrigerantes. Basándose en los resultados de la optimización, se propuso una correlación que permite obtener la presión intermedia óptima del ciclo, considerando la influencia del subenfriamiento a la salida del condensador. Además, se analizó la influencia del diseño de los componentes del sistema sobre el COP del ciclo. Posteriormente, el estudio se profundizó a nivel de componentes. El factor más crítico en el sistema es el rendimiento del compresor. Por lo tanto, el siguiente paso fue evaluar la influencia de varios sistemas de compresión con inyección de vapor sobre el COP. Se tomaron en cuenta tres tecnologías de compresores, un SCVI, un TSRC y un compresor scroll de dos etapas (TSSC). Estas tecnologías de compresores fueron caracterizadas y modeladas para estudiar su rendimiento. Para ello, se propuso una nueva metodología para caracterizar compresores scroll con inyección de vapor. Esta metodología permite evaluar el rendimiento del compresor independientemente del mecanismo de inyección que se utiliza en el ciclo. Se identificó una correlación lineal entre la relación de inyección de refrigerante y la relación de compresión intermedia. Esta correlación se utiliza para determinar el flujo másico de inyección en función de la presión intermedia. Posteriormente, se propuso un modelo semi-empírico de compresores scroll y una metodología para extender dicho modelo para compresores scroll con inyección de vapor. Los modelos fueron ajustados y validados usando datos experimentales de cuatro compresores scroll trabajando con R-290 y un SCVI trabajando con R-407C. Finalmente, se comparó un SCVI con dos compresores de dos etapas, un TSSC y un TSRC, trabajando en condiciones extremas. Se optimizó la relación de volúmenes de los compresores de dos etapas. Los resultados muestran que, en las condiciones nominales de funcionamiento (Te=-15 °C, Tc=50 °C), la relación de volúmenes óptima del TSSC es 0.58, y del TSRC es 0.57. El TSSC consigue un COP 6% mayor que el SCVI y un COP 11.7% mayor que el TSRC. Bajo un amplio rango de condiciones de operación, el SCVI presenta una mejor eficiencia y COP para relaciones de presión inferiores a 5. Para relaciones de presión más altas, el TSSC presenta mejor rendimiento y consigue una temperatura de descarga más baja. Se concluye que el SCVI es una solución fácil de implementar, desde el punto de vista del mecanizado, y que permite extender el mapa de trabajo de los compresores de una etapa. Sin embargo, los resultados muestran que la compresión en dos etapas consigue mejorar en mayor medida el COP del ciclo y la capacidad, con una mayor redu / [CA] Aquesta tesi doctoral presenta un estudi de compressors scroll amb injecció de vapor (SCVI) per a bombes de calor que operen en climes freds o per a aplicacions d'escalfament d'aigua a alta temperatura. Per a això, es va comparar experimentalment un SCVI amb un compressor de dues etapes de pistons (TSRC) treballant amb R-407C en condicions extremes. La comparació es va realitzar en termes d'eficiències del compressor, capacitat, COP i rendiments estacionals tant per al mode calefacció com per al mode refrigeració. Els resultats proporcionen una idea general sobre el rang d'aplicació dels compressors estudiats i sobre les diferències en els rendiments dels compressors. No obstant això, es van identificar diverses limitacions en la caracterització dels compressors i en l'anàlisi del cicle. Això va motivar a aprofundir en l'estudi del cicle de compressió de dues etapes i els seus components. El següent pas va ser realitzar una anàlisi teòrica dels cicles de compressió de dues etapes per a aplicacions de calefacció, on es va identificar la pressió intermèdia i la relació d'injecció com els paràmetres del sistema més influents sobre el COP. La pressió intermèdia es va optimitzar per a dues configuracions d'injecció (tanc de separació i economitzador) utilitzant diversos refrigerants. Basant-se en els resultats de l'optimització, es va proposar una correlació que permet obtindre la pressió intermèdia òptima del cicle, considerant la influència del subrefredament a l'eixida del condensador. A més, es va analitzar la influència del disseny dels components del sistema sobre el COP del cicle. Posteriorment, l'estudi es va aprofundir a nivell de components. El factor més crític en el sistema és el rendiment del compressor. Per tant, el següent pas va ser avaluar la influència de diversos sistemes de compressió amb injecció de vapor sobre el COP. Es van prendre en compte tres tecnologies de compressors, un SCVI, un TSRC i un compressor scroll de dues etapes (TSSC). Aquestes tecnologies de compressors van ser caracteritzades i modelades per a estudiar el seu rendiment. Per a això, es va proposar una nova metodologia per a caracteritzar compressors scroll amb injecció de vapor. Aquesta metodologia permet avaluar el rendiment del compressor independentment del mecanisme d'injecció que s'utilitza en el cicle. Es va identificar una correlació lineal entre la relació d'injecció de refrigerant i la relació de compressió intermèdia. Aquesta correlació s'utilitza per a determinar el flux màssic d'injecció en funció de la pressió intermèdia. Posteriorment, es va proposar un model semi-empíric de compressors scroll i una metodologia per a estendre aquest model per a compressors scroll amb injecció de vapor. Els models van ser ajustats i validats utilitzant dades experimentals de quatre compressors scroll treballant amb R-290 i un SCVI treballant amb R-407C. Finalment, es va comparar un SCVI amb dos compressors de dues etapes, un TSSC i un TSRC, treballant en condicions extremes. Es va optimitzar la relació de volums dels compressors de dues etapes. Els resultats mostren que, en les condicions nominals de funcionament (Te=-15 °C, Tc=50 °C), la relació de volums òptima del TSSC és 0.58, i del TSRC és 0.57. El TSSC aconsegueix un COP 6% major que el SCVI i un COP 11.7% major que el TSRC. Sota un ampli rang de condicions d'operació, el SCVI presenta una millor eficiència i COP per a relacions de pressió inferiors a 5. Per a relacions de pressió més altes, el TSSC presenta millor rendiment i aconsegueix una temperatura de descàrrega més baixa. Es conclou que el SCVI és una solució fàcil d'implementar, des del punt de vista del mecanitzat, i que permet estendre el mapa de treball dels compressors d'una etapa. No obstant això, els resultats mostren que la compressió en dues etapes aconsegueix millorar en major mesura el COP del cicle i la capacitat, amb una major reducció de la / [EN] This Ph.D. thesis presents a study of scroll compressors with vapor-injection (SCVI) for heat pumps operating in cold climates or in high-temperature water heating applications. To do so, firstly, an SCVI was experimentally compared with a two-stage reciprocating compressor (TSRC) working with R-407C under extreme conditions. The comparison was made in terms of compressor efficiencies, capacity, COP, and seasonal COP, both for heating and cooling modes. The results give a general idea about the application range of the studied compressors and the differences in the compressors' performance. Nevertheless, several restrictions in the compressors' characterization and the cycle analysis were identified. This motivated us to deepen in the study of the two-stage compression cycle and its components. The next step was performing a theoretical analysis of two-stage compression cycles for heating applications, where the intermediate pressure and the injection ratio were identified as the most influential system parameters on the COP. The intermediate pressure was optimized for two vapor-injection configurations (flash tank and economizer) using several refrigerants. Based on the optimization results, a correlation was proposed that allows obtaining the optimal intermediate pressure of the cycle, considering the influence of the subcooling at the condenser outlet. In addition, a theoretical analysis of the influence of the design of the system components on the COP of the cycle was performed. Once the thermodynamic analysis of the two-stage cycle was carried out, the study was deepened at the component level. The most critical factor in the system is the compressor performance. Hence, the next step was evaluating the influence of several compression systems with vapor-injection on the COP. Three compressor technologies were taken into account, an SCVI, a TSRC and a two-stage scroll compressor (TSSC). These compressor technologies were characterized and modeled in order to study their performance. To do so, a new methodology to characterize SCVI was proposed. This methodology allows evaluating the compressor performance independently of the injection mechanism used in the cycle. A linear correlation was identified between the refrigerant injection ratio and the intermediate compression ratio. This correlation is used to determine the injection mass flow as a function of the intermediate pressure. Then, a semi-empirical model of scroll compressors and a methodology to extend the model for scroll compressors with vapor-injection was proposed. The models were adjusted and validated using experimental data from four scroll compressors working with R-290 and an SCVI compressor working with R-407C. Finally, an SCVI was compared with two two-stage compressors, a TSSC, and a TSRC, working in extreme conditions. The displacement ratio of the two-stage compressors was optimized. Results show that, at the nominal operating conditions (Te=-15 °C, Tc=50 °C), the optimal displacement ratio of the TSSC is 0.58, and of the TSRC is 0.57. The TSSC achieves 6% larger COP than the SCVI and 11.7% larger COP than the TSRC. Under a wide range of operating conditions, the SCVI presents a better efficiency and COP for pressure ratios below 5. For higher-pressure ratios, the TSSC presents better performance and achieves lower discharge temperature. It is concluded that the SCVI is an easy solution to implement from the point of view of machining, which allows extending the working map of the single-stage compressors. However, the results show that the two-stage compression technology gets further improve the COP of the cycle and the capacity, with a greater reduction of the discharge temperature operating under extreme conditions. / I thank the financial support provided by the Secretaría de Educación Superior, Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (SENESCYT) of Ecuador, through the international scholarship program for postgraduate studies “Convocatoria Abierta 2013 Segunda Fase, Grant No 2015-AR37665”. / Tello Oquendo, FM. (2019). Study of scroll compressors with vapor-injection for heat pumps operating in cold climates or in high-temperature water heating applications [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/120473 / Compendio

An important goal of ecological studies is to identify and explain patterns or variation in species assemblages. Ecologists have discovered that global variation in the number of species in an assemblage relates strongly to climate, area, and topographic variability in terrestrial environments. Is the same true for other characteristics of species assemblages? The focus of this thesis is to determine whether species assemblage structure, defined primarily as the body mass frequency distributions and species abundance distributions relate in convergent ways to a set of a few environmental variables across broad spatial scales. First, I found that for mammals and trees most of their geographic variation across North and South America in assemblage structure is statistically related to temperature, precipitation, and habitat heterogeneity (e.g. different vegetation types) in convergent ways. I then examined bird assemblages across islands and continents. Despite the evolutionary and ecological differences between island and continental assemblages, I found that much of the variation in bird assemblage structure depends on temperature, precipitation, land area, and island isolation in congruent patterns in continent and island bird assemblages. Frank Preston modeled species richness based on the total number of individuals and the number of individuals of the rarest species. Building on Preston’s model, Chapter 2 hypothesized that gradients of diversity correlate with gradients in the number of individuals of the rarest species, which in turn are driven by gradients in temperature and precipitation. This hypothesis assumes that species abundance distributions relate to temperature and precipitation in similar ways anywhere in the world. I found that both the number of individuals of the rarest species (m) and the proportion of species represented by a single individual in samples of species assemblages (Φ) were strongly related to climate. Moreover, global variation in species richness was more strongly related to these measures of rarity than to climate. I propose that variation in the shape of the log-normal species abundance distribution is responsible for global gradients of species richness: rare species (reflected in m and Φ) persist better in benign climates. Even though body mass frequency distributions of assemblages show convergent patterns in relation to a set of a few environmental variables, the question remains as to what processes are responsible for creating the geographical variation in the body-size distribution of species. Several mechanisms (e.g. heat conservation and resource availability hypotheses) have been proposed to explain this variation. Chapter 5 tested and found no empirical support for the predictions derived from each of these mechanisms; I showed that species of all sizes occur across the entire temperature gradient. In conclusion, assemblage structure among various taxonomic groups across broad spatial scales relate in similar ways to a set of a few environmental variables, primarily mean annual temperature and mean annual precipitation. While the exact mechanisms are still unknown, I hypothesize several to explain the patterns of convergent assembly. Résumé Un but important de l'écologie est d'identifier et d'expliquer la variation de premier ordre dans les caractéristiques des assemblages d'espèces. Un des patrons ayant déjà été identifié par les écologistes, c'est que la variation mondiale de la richesse en espèces est liée à la variation du climat, de l'aire et de la topographie. Est-ce que d'autres caractéristiques des assemblages d'espèces peuvent être reliées à ces mêmes variables? Le but de cette thèse est de déterminer si la structure des assemblages d'espèces, ici définie comme la distribution des fréquences de masse corporelle ainsi que la distribution d'abondances des espèces, est reliée de manière convergente à un petit ensemble de variables environnementales, et ce, partout dans le monde. D'abord, j'ai déterminé que, pour les mammifères et les arbres, la majorité de la variation géographique dans la structure des assemblages d'espèces est reliée statistiquement à température, précipitation, et l’hétérogénéité du couvert végétal , et ce, de manière convergente pour l'Amérique du Nord et du Sud. Je me suis ensuite penché sur l'assemblage des oiseaux sur les îles et les continents. Malgré les larges différences évolutives et écologiques qui distinguent les îles des continents, je démontre que la majorité de la variation dans la structure des assemblages d'oiseaux dépend de la température, la précipitation, la superficie et l’isolation de façon congruente sur les îles et les continents. Frank Preston a modélisé la richesse en espèces d'une localité, basée sur le nombre total d'individus ainsi que le nombre d'individus de l’espèce la plus rare. En s'appuyant sur les modèles de Preston, Chapître 3 propose une nouvelle hypothèse voulant que les gradients de diversité dépendent des gradients du nombre d'individus de l’espèce la plus rare. Celle-ci dépend des gradients de température et de précipitation. Cette hypothèse repose sur le postulat que la distribution d’abondances des espèces dépend de la température et la précipitation, et ce, de la même manière n’importe où au monde. J’ai mis en évidence que le nombre d’individus de l’espèce la plus rare (m), ainsi que la proportion d’espèces représentées par un individu unique () dans des échantillons locaux étaient fortement reliés au climat. D’ailleurs, la variation globale de la richesse en espèces était plus fortement reliée à ces indices de rareté qu’au climat. Je propose que la variation dans la forme de la distribution log-normale d’abondances d’individus soit responsable des gradients mondiaux de richesse en espèces. En d’autres mots, les espèces rares (indiquées par m et ) persistent mieux dans des climats bénins. Malgré que la distribution des fréquences de masse corporelle des assemblages d'espèces soit liée de manière convergente à seulement quelques variables environnementales, la question demeure à savoir quels processus sont responsables des gradients géographiques de variation en masse corporelle des espèces. Plusieurs mécanismes ont été proposés pour expliquer cette variation. Dans Chapitre 5, j'ai testé les prédictions dérivées de chacun de ces mécanismes sans trouver de support empirique pour aucun. Je démontre aussi que des espèces de toutes tailles se retrouvent sur le gradient de température en entier. En conclusion, la structure des assemblages d'espèces, pour différents groupes taxonomiques et à travers le monde, est liée de façon similaire à un petit nombre de variables environnementales. Bien que les mécanismes soient encore inconnus, j'en propose plusieurs pouvant expliquer ces patrons d'assemblages convergents.

From the Proceedings of the 1971 Meetings of the Arizona Section - American Water Resources Assn. and the Hydrology Section - Arizona Academy of Science - April 22-23, 1971, Tempe, Arizona / High nitrates in drinking water are significant in relation to an infant disease, methemoglobinemia, and the U.S. public health service has set a limit of 45 ppm for human consumption. This paper illustrates how chemical hydrographs were used in a study of nitrates in the groundwater of the Fresno-Clovis metropolitan area (F.C.M.A.) of semiarid central California. The area comprises about 145 square miles, with a population of 310,000. Urban water use is entirely derived from wells, whereas the surrounding agriculture relies on surface and ground water. In 1965, the California department of water resources noted nitrate concentrations in the F.C.M.A. were exceeding the safe limit. A number of sources of error in chemical analyses of water quality are noted. A measure of the accuracies of analyses and a method of double-checking anomalous results is furnished by plotting chemical hydrographs of individual wells. Seasonal changes in nitrate were consistent for many parts of the area, and were related to hydrogeologic factors and parameters directly affecting nitrification. Nitrate hydrographs were monitored by chloride hydrographs. The highest nitrate concentrations were in the shallower parts of the aquifer, and well deepening and changes in water level, pumping patterns and recharge rates complicated interpretations. However, the hydrographs helped to pinpoint the source of nitrate in areas where several possible sources were present.