This study has the objective of identifying the possible environmental constraints that has role for the continuous loss of heathland plant Genista pilosa. The study has assessed different environmental settings where the plant occurs by way of overlaying analysis based on multiple spatial data sets. Thereafter empirical change detection analyses on the land use of the study area have been performed on the GIS environment by combining temporal based remotely sensed spatial data. The result was then analyzed using land use dynamicity model and the rates of change on each land use type are identified. Expansion of human activity, especially the spreading of agricultural land and urbanization, is found to be the most determinant factor for the dramatic loss of the plant. Finally serious attention for the protection of the plant is recommended by mentioning the possible problem that would occur due to a loss of biodiversity.

Projected air and ground temperatures are expected to be higher in Arctic and sub-Arcticlatitudes and with temperatures already close to the limit where permafrost can exist,resistance against degradation is low. With thawing permafrost, the landscape is modifiedwith depression in which thermokarst lakes emerge. In permafrost soils a considerableamount of soil organic carbon is stored, with the potential of altering climate even furtherif expansion and formation of new thermokarst lakes emerge, as decay releasesgreenhouse gases (C02 and CH4) to the atmosphere. Analyzing the spatial distribution andmorphometry over time of thermokarst lakes and other water bodies, is of importance inaccurately predict carbon budget and feedback mechanisms, as well as to assess futurelandscape layout and these features interaction. Different types of high-spatial resolutionaerial and satellite imageries from 1963, 1975, 2003, 2010 and 2015, were used in bothpre- and post-classification change detection analyses. Using object oriented segmentationin eCognition combined with manual adjustments, resulted in digitalized water bodies>28m2 from which direction of change and morphometric values were extracted. Thequantity of thermokarst lakes and other water bodies was in 1963 n=92, with succeedingyears as a trend decreased in numbers, until 2010-2015 when eleven water bodies wereadded in 2015 (n=74 to n=85). In 1963-2003, area of these water bodies decreased with50 651m2 (189 446-138 795m2) and continued to decrease in 2003-2015 ending at 129337m2. Limnicity decreased from 19.9% in 1963 to 14.6% in 2003 (-5.3%). In 2010 and2015 13.7-13.6%. The late increase in water bodies differs from an earlier hypothesis thatsporadic permafrost regions experience decrease in both area and quantity of thermokarstlakes and water bodies. During 1963-2015, land gain has been in dominance of the ratiobetween the two competing processes of expansion and drainage. In 1963-1975, 55/45%,followed by 90/10% in 1975-2003. After major drainage events, land loss increased to62/38% in 2010-2015. Drainage and infilling rates, calculated for 15 shorelines werevaried across both landscape and parts of shorelines, with in average 0.17/0.15/0.14m/yr.Except for 1963-1975 when rate of change in average was in opposite direction (-0.09m/yr.), likely due to evident expansion of a large thermokarst lake. Using a squaregrid, distribution of water bodies was determined, with an indistinct cluster located in NEand central parts. Especially for water bodies <250m2, which is the dominant area classthroughout 1963-2015 ranging from n=39-51. With a heterogeneous composition of bothsmall and large thermokarst lakes, and with both expansion and drainage altering thelandscape in Tavvavuoma, both positive and negative climate feedback mechanisms are inplay - given that sporadic permafrost still exist.

No description available.

Heavy Ion Elastic Recoil Detection Analysis (HIERDA) is a versatile Ion Beam Analysis technique well suited to multi-elemental depth profiling of thin layered structures and near-surface regions of materials. An existing limitation is the inability to accurately account for the pronounced broadening and tailing effects of multiple scattering typically seen in HIERDA spectra. This thesis investigates the role of multiple large angle scattering in heavy ion applications such as HIERDA, and seeks to quantify its contribution to experimental output. This is achieved primarily by the development of a computer simulation capable of predicting these contributions and using it to classify and quantify the interactions that cause them. Monte Carlo ion transport simulation is used to generate simulated HIERDA spectra and the results are compared to experimental data acquired using the Time of Flight HIERDA facility at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisat ion. A Monte Carlo simulation code was adapted to the simulation of HIERDA spectra with considerable attention on improving the modelling efficiency to reduce processing time. Efficiency enhancements have achieved simulation time reductions of two to three orders of magnitude. The simulation is shown to satisfactorily reproduce the complex shape of HIERDA spectra. Some limitations are identified in the ability to accurately predict peak widths and the absolute magnitude of low energy tailing in some cases. The code is used to identify the plural scattering contribution to the spectral features under investigation, and the complexity of plurally scattered ion and recoil paths is demonstrated. The program is also shown to be useful in the interpretation of overlapped energy spectra of elements of similar mass whose signals cannot be reliably separated experimentally. The effect of large angle scattering on the transmission of heavy ions through a nano-scale aperture mask, used to collimate an ion beam to a very small beam spot, is modelled using a version of the program adapted to handle the more complex geometry of the aperture mask. The effectiveness of nano-aperture collimation was studied for a variety of ion-energy combinations. Intensity, energy, and angular distributions of transmitted ions were calculated to quantify the degree to which scattering within the mask limits the spatial resolution achievable. The simulation successfully predicted the effect of misaligning the aperture and the beam, and the result has subsequently been observed experimentally. Transmitted ion distributions showed that the higher energy heavier ions studied are more effectively collimated than are lower energy lighter ions. However, there is still a significant probability of transmission of heavy ions with substantial residual energy beyond the perimeter of the aperture. For the intended application, ion beam lithography, these ions are likely to be problematic. The results indicate that medium energy He ions are the more attractive option, as the residual energy of scattered transmitted ions can be more readily managed by customising the etching process. Continuing research by experimentalists working in this area is proceeding in this direction as a result of the conclusions from this work.

>Magister Scientiae - MSc / Hydrogen has high energy density and it is regarded as the future energy carrier. Hydrogen can be stored as a gas in high-pressure cylinders, as a liquid in cryogenic tanks and as a solid in metal hydrides. The storage of hydrogen in gas and liquid form has many limitations. Light metal hydrides show high energy density and are a promising and more practical mode of hydrogen storage. In particular, titanium and its alloys are promising metal hydrides for hydrogen storage due to their high affinity to hydrogen. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of thermal annealing on hydrogen storage capacity of Ti-Pd multilayer systems. Ti-Pd multilayer films were prepared on CP-Ti (commercial pure Ti) and Ti6Al4V substrates using an electron beam evaporator equipped with a thickness monitor. The sequential deposition of layers Pd(50nm)/Ti(25nm)/Pd(50nm) was done at a constant deposition rate of 0.6 Å/s. The first batch of samples were thermally annealed at 550 °C in vacuum for two hours, the second batch of samples were annealed at 550 oC under H2(15%)/Ar(85%) gas mixture for two hours and the third series of samples was annealed under pure H2 gas at 550 oC for one hour. SEM showed relatively homogeneous and smooth topography of surfaces in as-deposited samples, while a rough textured surface was observed in both samples annealed under vacuum and under H2/Ar gas mixture. The samples annealed under pure H2 gas did not show any sign of crystallites grow but instead a relatively smooth surface with sign of etching. XRD revealed structural transformation as evidenced by the presence of PdTi2 phase in samples annealed under vacuum; in samples annealed under the gas mixture Pd2Ti was noted in addition to TiH2 and TiO2. While the TiH2 phase is an indication of hydrogen absorption, the TiPd2 phase suggests intermixing of the deposited layers and the presence of TiO2 is evidence of oxidation. The samples annealed under pure H2 gas showed only TiH2 with no trace of structural transformation. RBS confirmed the intermixing of layers in the samples annealed under vacuum and H2(15%)/Ar(85%) gas mixture, while samples annealed under pure H2 gas did not show any intermixing of layers. ERDA revealed an average H content of ~ 3.5 at.% in CP-Ti and ~6.2 at.% in Ti6Al4V for samples annealed under H2(15%)/Ar(85%) gas mixture. We recorded an hydrogen content of ~19.5 at.% in CP-Ti annealed under pure H2 while ~25.5 at.% was found in Ti6Al4V annealed under the same conditions. When the thickness of the Pd catalyst layers was increased to 100 nm (i.e. Pd (100 nm)/Ti (25 nm)/Pd (100 nm)), only ~ 12.5 at.% and 11.2 at. % hydrogen content was recorded in samples prepared on CP-Ti and Ti6Al4V alloy respectively, both annealed under pure hydrogen for one hour as above.

<p>Mechanical property and thermal stability of Zr-Si-N films of varying silicon contents deposited on Al₂O₃ (0001) substrates are characterized. All films provided for characterization were deposited by reactive DC magnetron sputter deposition technique from elemental Zr and Si targets in a N₂/Ar plasma at 800 ^oC. The hardness and microstructures of the as deposited films and post-annealed films up to 1100 ^oC are evaluated by means of nanoindentation, X-ray diffractometry and transmission electron microscopy. The Zr-Si-N films with 9.4 at.% Si exhibit hardness as high as 34 GPa and a strong (002) texture within which vertically elongated ZrN crystallites are embedded in a Si₃N₄ matrix. The hardness of these two dimensional nanocomposite films remains stable up to 1000 ^oC annealing temperatures which is in contrast to ZrN films where hardness degradation occurs already above 800 ^oC. The enhanced thermal stability is attributed to the presence of Si₃N₄ grain boundaries which act as efficient barriers to hinder the oxygen diffusion. X-ray amorphous or nanocrystalline structures are observed in Zr-Si-N films with silicon contents > 13.4 at.%. After the annealing treatments, crystalline phases such as ZrSi₂, ZrO₂ and Zr₂O are formed above 1000 ^oC in the Si-containing films while only zirconia crystallites are observed at 800 ^oC in pure ZrN films because oxygen acts as artifacts in the vacuum furnace. The structural, compositional and hardness comparison of as-deposited and annealed films reveal that the addition of silicon enhances the thermal stability compared to pure ZrN films and the hardness degradation stems from the formation of oxides at elevated temperatures.</p>

Mechanical property and thermal stability of Zr-Si-N films of varying silicon contents deposited on Al2O3 (0001) substrates are characterized. All films provided for characterization were deposited by reactive DC magnetron sputter deposition technique from elemental Zr and Si targets in a N2/Ar plasma at 800 oC. The hardness and microstructures of the as deposited films and post-annealed films up to 1100 oC are evaluated by means of nanoindentation, X-ray diffractometry and transmission electron microscopy. The Zr-Si-N films with 9.4 at.% Si exhibit hardness as high as 34 GPa and a strong (002) texture within which vertically elongated ZrN crystallites are embedded in a Si3N4 matrix. The hardness of these two dimensional nanocomposite films remains stable up to 1000 oC annealing temperatures which is in contrast to ZrN films where hardness degradation occurs already above 800 oC. The enhanced thermal stability is attributed to the presence of Si3N4 grain boundaries which act as efficient barriers to hinder the oxygen diffusion. X-ray amorphous or nanocrystalline structures are observed in Zr-Si-N films with silicon contents &gt; 13.4 at.%. After the annealing treatments, crystalline phases such as ZrSi2, ZrO2 and Zr2O are formed above 1000 oC in the Si-containing films while only zirconia crystallites are observed at 800 oC in pure ZrN films because oxygen acts as artifacts in the vacuum furnace. The structural, compositional and hardness comparison of as-deposited and annealed films reveal that the addition of silicon enhances the thermal stability compared to pure ZrN films and the hardness degradation stems from the formation of oxides at elevated temperatures.

Controlled thermonuclear fusion may become an attractive future electrical power source. The most promising of all fusion machine concepts is called a tokamak. The fuel, a plasma made of deuterium and tritium, must be confined to enable the fusion process. It is also necessary to protect the wall of tokamaks from erosion by the hot plasma. To increase wall lifetime, the high-Z metal tungsten is foreseen as wall material in future fusion devices due to its very high melting point. This thesis focuses on the following consequences of plasma impact on a high-Z wall: (i) erosion, transport and deposition of high-Z wall materials; (ii) fuel retention in tokamak walls; (iii) long term effects of plasma impact on structural machine parts; (iv) dust production in tokamaks. An extensive study of wall components has been conducted with ion beam analysis after the final shutdown of the TEXTOR tokamak. This unique possibility offered by the shutdown combined with a tracer experiment led to the largest study of high-Z metal migration and fuel retention ever conducted. The most important results are:   - transport is greatly affected by drifts and flows in the plasma edge; - stepwise transport along wall surfaces takes place mainly in the toroidal direction; - fuel retention is highest on slightly retracted wall elements; - fuel retention is highly inhomogeneous.   A broad study on structural parts of a tokamak has been conducted on the TEXTOR liner. The plasma impact does neither degrade mechanical properties nor lead to fuel diffusion into the bulk after 26 years of duty time. Peeling deposition layers on the liner retain fuel in the order of 1g and represent a dust source. Only small amounts of dust are found in TEXTOR with overall low deuterium content. Security risks in future fusion devices due to dust explosions or fuel retention in dust are hence of lesser concern. / <p>QC 20170630</p>

Neste trabalho, estudamos e aplicamos técnicas analíticas com feixes iônicos para a identificação e quantificação do elemento químico Boro em amostras de Boro depositado sobre Níquel 11B/Ni, sobre Silício B/Si e em amostras de Silício Grau Metalúrgico - SiGM. Estas últimas foram fornecidas pelo grupo de metalurgia do Instituto de Pesquisas Tecnológicas (IPT). Especificamente, as seguintes técnicas analíticas foram utilizadas: Nuclear Reaction Analysis - NRA, Elastic Recoil Detection Analysis - ERDA e Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry - SIMS. Nas amostras de B/Ni e B/Si, as concentrações foram obtidas com medidas de NRA, ERDA e SIMS. Também foi abordado quais dentre essas três técnicas apresentam menor limite de deteção e menor incerteza para a quantificação de Boro. Usando a reação nuclear 11B(p,a0)8Be, foi possível calcular a sua seção de choque diferencial para ângulo de espalhamento theta=170, cujo resultado, para este ângulo específico, é inédito na literatura. As amostras de SiGM foram analisadas com a técnica SIMS e comparadas com medidas de Inductively Coupled Plasma - ICP realizadas pelo grupo do IPT. Uma vez que técnicas nucleares podem ser consideradas absolutas, concluímos que as medidas de ICP apresentaram dados compatíveis com as medidas SIMS, e que o grupo de metalurgia do IPT está medindo as concentrações de Boro em suas amostras de SiGM corretamente por meio de ICP. Uma reta de calibração entre medidas SIMSxICP foi construída, que poderá servir como um guia para futuras quantificações de Boro com ICP feitas pelo grupo de metalurgia do IPT. / In this work we investigated the use of analytical techniques based on ion beams in the quantification of Boron in many kinds of samples. Specifically, we applied techniques such Nuclear Reaction Analysis (NRA), Elastic Recoil Detection Analysis (ERDA) and Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) to 11B/Ni and B/Si samples to measure the boron concentration. We also discuss and show what technique has a better detection limit and lower uncertainty. For the first time in the literature, we obtained the cross section for the $^{11}B(p,\\alpha_0){^8}Be$ nuclear reaction in the energy range from 1.6 up to 2.0 MeV in theta = 170 scattering angle. The SIMS technique was applied to analise samples of metallurgical grade silicon (SiGM) from Metallurgy Group of Instituto de Pesquisas Tecnologicas (IPT) to check the Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) measurements carried out by the IPT. Moreover, it was possible to build a calibration curve between SIMS and ICP measurements, that can be used to help of Metallurgy Group with futures ICP\'s measurements.

Neste trabalho, estudamos e aplicamos técnicas analíticas com feixes iônicos para a identificação e quantificação do elemento químico Boro em amostras de Boro depositado sobre Níquel 11B/Ni, sobre Silício B/Si e em amostras de Silício Grau Metalúrgico - SiGM. Estas últimas foram fornecidas pelo grupo de metalurgia do Instituto de Pesquisas Tecnológicas (IPT). Especificamente, as seguintes técnicas analíticas foram utilizadas: Nuclear Reaction Analysis - NRA, Elastic Recoil Detection Analysis - ERDA e Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry - SIMS. Nas amostras de B/Ni e B/Si, as concentrações foram obtidas com medidas de NRA, ERDA e SIMS. Também foi abordado quais dentre essas três técnicas apresentam menor limite de deteção e menor incerteza para a quantificação de Boro. Usando a reação nuclear 11B(p,a0)8Be, foi possível calcular a sua seção de choque diferencial para ângulo de espalhamento theta=170, cujo resultado, para este ângulo específico, é inédito na literatura. As amostras de SiGM foram analisadas com a técnica SIMS e comparadas com medidas de Inductively Coupled Plasma - ICP realizadas pelo grupo do IPT. Uma vez que técnicas nucleares podem ser consideradas absolutas, concluímos que as medidas de ICP apresentaram dados compatíveis com as medidas SIMS, e que o grupo de metalurgia do IPT está medindo as concentrações de Boro em suas amostras de SiGM corretamente por meio de ICP. Uma reta de calibração entre medidas SIMSxICP foi construída, que poderá servir como um guia para futuras quantificações de Boro com ICP feitas pelo grupo de metalurgia do IPT. / In this work we investigated the use of analytical techniques based on ion beams in the quantification of Boron in many kinds of samples. Specifically, we applied techniques such Nuclear Reaction Analysis (NRA), Elastic Recoil Detection Analysis (ERDA) and Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) to 11B/Ni and B/Si samples to measure the boron concentration. We also discuss and show what technique has a better detection limit and lower uncertainty. For the first time in the literature, we obtained the cross section for the $^{11}B(p,\\alpha_0){^8}Be$ nuclear reaction in the energy range from 1.6 up to 2.0 MeV in theta = 170 scattering angle. The SIMS technique was applied to analise samples of metallurgical grade silicon (SiGM) from Metallurgy Group of Instituto de Pesquisas Tecnologicas (IPT) to check the Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) measurements carried out by the IPT. Moreover, it was possible to build a calibration curve between SIMS and ICP measurements, that can be used to help of Metallurgy Group with futures ICP\'s measurements.