I am investigating the significance of historic events of flight through image making; particularly incidents that captured the collective imagination and became part of our cultural memory. These events have surpassed mere entries in historical texts and become mythic. In the terms of Jungian psychology, they have become symbolic. In terms of Semiotics, they have become signs. Through photographs and installation, I seek to understand their presence in my, and our, unconscious mind.

Three populations of Southern flying squirrels were studied in the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas to assess the impact of population subdivision-due to island formation--on the population genetics of Glaucomys volans. One island, one mainland, and one open population were investigated. A 367 nucleotide hypervariable region of mitochondrial DNA was sequenced in individuals from each population. Individuals and populations were compared to assess relatedness. Higher sequence diversity was detected in the open and island populations. One island individual shared characters with both the island and mainland populations. Results support the hypothesis that the mainland population may have reduced gene flow. Also, the island population may have been originally founded by at least two maternal lineages.

The aim of this thesis was to make the evalution of the produced emissions of odorours substances and dust particles of PM 2,5 fraction from intensive poultry farming. Measurements were implemented according to the valid methodologies in poulty farm which is in Sudoměřice u Bechyně.

No region has felt the effects of global climate change more acutely than the cryosphere, which has changed at an unprecedented rate in the past two decades. The scientific consensus is that these changes are driven largely by increasing ocean heat content at high latitudes. In southeast Greenland, acceleration and retreat of the marine-terminating glaciers contributes significantly towards global sea level rise. Circulation in the fjords which accommodate these glaciers is thought to be driven both by freshwater input and by barrier wind-driven shelf exchange. Due to a scarcity of data, particularly from winter, the balance between these two mechanisms is not fully understood. In Svalbard, increasing water temperature has decimated sea ice cover in many of the fjords, and had substantial implications for the local ecosystem. While there is a relatively comprehensive literature on shelf exchange mechanisms in Svalbard fjords, questions remain over how the internal circulation interacts with exchange mechanisms. The region shares a similar underwater topography and oceanographic setting with southeast Greenland, with marine-terminating glaciers in close proximity to warm Atlantic waters, and results from Svalbard can hence be used to inform studies of high-latitude fjord-shelf exchange in a broader context. A realistic numerical model was constructed with the aim of better understanding the interaction between Kangerdlugssuaq Fjord and the adjacent continental shelf, and quantifying heat exchange during winter. The model was initially run in an idealised configuration with winter climatological forcing fields, incorporating a parameterisation for melting at the terminus, and used to test the impact of barrier wind events. The Earth's rotation played a crucial role in the nature of the circulation and exchange in the fjord, with inflow on the right (looking up-fjord) and outflow on the left. While the heat delivered into the fjord-mouth was smaller than that observed in summer, the background internal circulation was found to efficiently distribute waters through the fjord without external forcing, and the heat delivered to the glacier terminus was comparable to summer values. Barrier winds were found to excite coastally-trapped internal waves which propagated into the fjord along the right-hand side. The process was capable of doubling the heat delivery. The process also enhanced the background circulation, likely via Stokes' Drift. The model was then adapted to simulate winter 2007-08 under historical forcing conditions. Time series of glacial melt rate, as well as the heat flux through fjord cross-sections, were constructed and compared to the variability in wind forcing. Long periods of moderate wind stress were found to induce greatly enhanced heat flux towards the ice sheet, while short, strong gusts were found to have little influence, suggesting that the timescale over which the shelf wind field varies is a key parameter in dictating wintertime heat delivery from the ocean to the Greenland Ice Sheet. An underwater glider was deployed to Isfjorden, a large fjord system in Svalbard, to measure the temperature, salinity and depth-averaged currents over the course of November 2014. Like in Kangerdlugssuaq, the circulation in Isfjorden was found to be heavily influenced by the Earth's rotation and by wind activity both locally and on the shelf. The combination of hydrography and high-resolution velocity data provided new insights, suggesting that the approach will be useful for studying high-latitude fjords in the future.

Chung, Chor Fung. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 95-97). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Acknowledgements --- p.iv / Table of Contents --- p.v / List of Figures --- p.viii / List of Tables --- p.xiii / Nomenclature --- p.xiv / Chapter Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Development of Micro Indoor Surveillance Flyers --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1.1 --- Overview --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1.2 --- Intrinsic Problem of Surveillance Helicopters --- p.2 / Chapter 1.2 --- Proposed Non-moving Parts and Noiseless Flyers --- p.2 / Chapter 1.3 --- Organization of the remaining dissertation --- p.5 / Chapter Chapter 2 --- The Basic Structure of the Ionic Flyers --- p.7 / Chapter 2.1 --- The Components and the Structural Parameters of the Ionic Flyers --- p.7 / Chapter 2.2 --- Proposed Operational Principles --- p.8 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- The Electrohydrodynamic Effect --- p.9 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- The Biefeld-Brown Effect --- p.10 / Chapter Chapter 3 --- Overview of Corona Discharge --- p.11 / Chapter 3.1 --- The Gaseous Discharge --- p.11 / Chapter 3.2 --- "Uniform Fields, Electrical Breakdown" --- p.12 / Chapter 3.3 --- "Non-uniform Fields, Corona Discharge" --- p.12 / Chapter 3.3.1 --- Positive Corona Discharge --- p.13 / Chapter 3.3.2 --- Negative Corona Discharge --- p.14 / Chapter 3.4 --- Conclusion --- p.15 / Chapter Chapter 4 --- Electrical Current-Voltage Model --- p.16 / Chapter 4.1 --- Experimental Setup and Measurement --- p.17 / Chapter 4.2 --- Basic Current to Voltage Relationship --- p.18 / Chapter 4.2.1 --- The Three Electrical Stages of the Ionic Flyers --- p.20 / Chapter 4.2.2 --- Proposed Quadratic Equation for the Current to Voltage Relationship --- p.22 / Chapter 4.3 --- Determination of the Current Gain C and the Onset Voltage V0 by the Structural Parameters of the Ionic Flyers --- p.22 / Chapter 4.3.1 --- The Electrode Length (L) --- p.24 / Chapter 4.3.2 --- The Gap Distance between the Wire-emitter and the Plate-collector (d) --- p.27 / Chapter 4.3.3 --- The Wire-emitter Radius (rw) --- p.31 / Chapter 4.3.4 --- The Plate-collector Height (h) --- p.36 / Chapter 4.3.5 --- The Electrode Enclosed Area (A) --- p.38 / Chapter 4.3.6 --- The Electrical Environmental Constant (Ke) --- p.43 / Chapter 4.4 --- Summary of the Experimental Derived Current-Voltage Model --- p.45 / Chapter Chapter 5 --- Mechanical Lift-force Models --- p.46 / Chapter 5.1 --- Experimental Setup and Measurement --- p.47 / Chapter 5.2 --- Basic Lift-force to Voltage Relationship --- p.49 / Chapter 5.2.1 --- The Initial Power Dissipation (IPD) --- p.50 / Chapter 5.2.2 --- The Maximum Lift-force --- p.51 / Chapter 5.2.3 --- Proposed Third-order Equation for the Lift-force to Power Relationship --- p.52 / Chapter 5.3 --- Determination of the Voltage Gain J and the Barrier Voltage Vfby the Structural Parameters of the Ionic Flyers --- p.54 / Chapter 5.3.1 --- The Electrical Length (L) --- p.55 / Chapter 5.3.2 --- The Gap Distance between the Wire-emitter and the Plate-collector (d) --- p.59 / Chapter 5.3.3 --- The Wire-emitter Radius (rw) --- p.63 / Chapter 5.3.4 --- The Plate-collector Height (h) --- p.66 / Chapter 5.3.5 --- The Electrode Enclosed Area (A) --- p.67 / Chapter 5.3.6 --- The Lift-force Environmental Constant (Kf) --- p.71 / Chapter 5.4 --- Summary of the Experimental Derived Lift-force Model --- p.73 / Chapter 5.5 --- Analysis on the Force/Power Ratio of the Ionic Flyers --- p.74 / Chapter Chapter 6 --- Further development of the Ionic Flyers --- p.76 / Chapter 6.1 --- Multi-directional Force Generation --- p.76 / Chapter 6.1.1 --- Linear Motion --- p.77 / Chapter 6.1.2 --- Rotation Motion --- p.78 / Chapter 6.2 --- Application of MEMS Motion Sensors and Wireless Signal Transmission --- p.80 / Chapter Chapter 7 --- Future Work --- p.84 / Chapter 7.1 --- Single-Emitter-Multiple-Collector Ionic Flyers --- p.84 / Chapter 7.2 --- Development of Miniaturized High-voltage Power Supply --- p.88 / Chapter Chapter 8 --- Conclusion --- p.90 / Chapter 8.1 --- The Electrical Current to Voltage Model --- p.90 / Chapter 8.2 --- The Mechanical Lift-force to Power Model --- p.91 / Chapter 8.3 --- The Force/Power Ratio Model --- p.91 / Appendix A --- p.92

The dynamics of a tether cable for a flying wind generator, employed to generate electricity by utilising the high velocity jet-stream winds in the troposphere, is analysed. A non-linear mathematical model for the study of the dynamics of the cable is described by a partial differential equation, which is solved analytically without damping. For unsteady and damped states, ordinary differential equations are obtained by adopting a discrete analysis approach, which are solved numerically with the aid of MATLAB software. Solutions are found for a range of lumped masses to represent the cable and each solution is verified against a previous case. Likewise, the result for the three masses is checked against the cable using a single lumped mass. The analysis is extended to seven discrete masses. This research highlights the dynamic behaviour of the cable subjected to wind gusts on the rotors and it also represents an appreciable input to the flying wind generator concept. The dynamic behaviour of the cable is critical for a flying electric generator. / Master of Engineering (Hons)

Throughout their world distribution, fruit bats (Chiroptera: Pteropodidae) play an extremely important role in forest ecology through seed dispersal and pollination. However, the recognition of their role in maintaining forest ecological diversity has been largely overshadowed by the fact that fruit bats are known to cause damage to a wide variety of cultivated fruits and, as a result, significant effort is undertaken to control fruit bat numbers in areas where crop damage frequently occurs. In Australia, fruit bats of the genus Pteropus (or flying foxes) are well known for their role in destroying valuable fruit crops, particularly along the east coast from Cairns to Sydney. Historical evidence suggests that flying foxes have been culled as an orchard pest in large numbers for the past 80 years. Uncontrolled culling both on-farm and in roosts coupled with extensive habitat destruction in the past century, has resulted in noticeable declines both in flying fox distribution and local population numbers. In New South Wales, flying foxes have been 'protected' under the National Parks and Wildlife Act (1974) since 1986. From that time, fruitgrowers have been required to obtain a licence (referred to as an occupier's licence) from the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) to cull flying foxes causing damage to fruit crops. However, despite the 'protected' status of the species, flying foxes continue to be culled in large numbers as an orchard pest. An examination of the management of flying foxes in NSW, has shown that, between 1986-1992, fifteen NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service Districts issued a combined total of 616 occupier's licences to shoot flying foxes with an total allocation of over 240,000 animals. In addition, most flying foxes are culled when the female is carrying her young under wing or when the young remain in the camp but continue to be dependent on her return for survival. Further evidence on the extent of culling includes a widely distributed fruitgrower survey with responses indicating that as few as 50% of the fruitgrowers shooting flying foxes in NSW obtain the required licence from the National Parks and Wildlife Service. While the NPWS has undertaken research into the role of flying foxes in seed dispersal and pollination, management effort largely continues to focus on resolving conflicts between fruitgrowers and flying foxes primarily by issuing culling permits to fruitgrowers. At present, there is no NPWS policy on the management of flying foxes in NSW to guide the administration of the permit system. As a result, the process of issuing permits for flying foxes is largely inconsistent between NPWS Districts. The absence of comprehensive goals and objectives for the management of flying foxes has resulted in the current situation where large numbers of flying foxes are being culled both legally and illegally in the absence of any data on the impacts of unknown culling levels on local flying fox populations. The NPWS has a statutory obligation to manage flying foxes consistent with the 'protected' status of the species in NSW and several well known principles of wildlife management. However, current management of flying foxes in indicates that the Service may be in violation of the requirement to 'protect' and 'conserve' flying foxes as required under the National Parks and Wildlife Act (1974). This study recommends that licences issued to fruitgrowers to cull flying foxes be discontinued immediately and that adequate enforcement be engaged to reduce illegal shooting. This action should continue until such time that research on flying fox populations is able to demonstrate that the culling of flying foxes will not lead populations into decline. Furthermore, management effort should focus on the development of alternative strategies to reduce crop damage by flying foxes and provide incentives for growers to utilize existing control strategies such as netting.

No description available.

Analytische Modellierung von Bandscheren mit Mathcad

This thesis presents a method for managing periods of communication loss between multiple spacecraft in formation flying (MSFF), and analyzes the effects of this method on the stability of the formation keeping control algorithm. The controller of interest in this work in an adaptive nonlinear controller, where synchronization is also incorporated to force the position tracking errors to converge to zero at the same rate. The communication loss compensation technique proposed in this thesis is to use the previously communicated data in lieu of the lost data, which is an effective and computationally-efficient technique that is advantageous for small satellites. The performance parameter of interest in this research is the maximum rate of communication loss that an MSFF system can withstand before going unstable, and this is analyzed theoretically and through simulations. Finally, experiments involving multiple robots in formation with communication loss are conducted, and the results are presented.