Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Carolina Wilmington, 2009 / Title from PDF title page (January 19, 2010) Includes bibliographical references (p. 60-74)

Thesis (B.A.)--Harvard University, 1991. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [61]-77).

Thesis (M.A.)--Ohio University, March, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 84-88)

Thesis (M. S.)--Florida State University, 2005. / Advisor: Dr. Ming Cai, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Meteorology. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Sept. 19, 2005). Document formatted into pages; contains xi, 50 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--Ohio University, March, 2005. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 84-88)

Thesis (M.Sc. Physics)--University of Waikato, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 97-102)

The energy crisis of 2001, high prices for gas and electricity and worries of climate change have caused a growing awareness about energy issues in California. The problems are clear. This paper looks at the next step of finding and implementing solutions. In this case the contribution that solar photovoltaic and solar thermal generation could make toward solving the problem. This paper looks at technological change, the current state of solar energy research, current government policies on solar energy, and finally makes policy recommendations to meet the stated problem.

No description available.

Climate change has sparked growing interest in the relationship between food security and our climate systems. Crop productivity is tightly correlated with fluctuating temperatures, carbon dioxide (CO2), and rainfall. The purpose of this research is to examine the quantitative relationship between these factors to better understand the magnitude of global systematic risk. Econometric models are constructed for three different contexts: a global analysis of country-level crop yields is explored using a fixed-effects panel regression model; a meta-analysis of farm-level experiments exposed to varying levels of CO2 and temperatures; and a regional analysis of Saskatchewan rural municipalities using a spatial dataset of historical weather data. In summary, reduced yields occur beyond peak thresholds of temperature and rising CO2 will lead to substantial increases in yield potential and reduced water use. These relationships vary in magnitude across crop species, but the underlying direction of the relationships are the same. This research improves upon previous methods in the literature, explores novel datasets, and contributes to the estimation of climate impacts in agriculture. / Graduate

Snowbed vegetation contains both vascular plants and bryophytes. The latest snowbeds cover areas that are of predominantly, if not exclusively, bryophyte flora while the vascular plants are generally confined to the periphery of such late snowbeds. It is hypothesised that the exclusion of vascular flora from the snowbed core is the result of the shortened growing season generated by late-lying snow, which the bryophyte flora is better able to tolerate. The snowbed bryophytes cannot, however, tolerate the competition offered by the vascular flora in the peripheral areas from which they are absent. Data indicate that some of the bryophyte snowbed species are inhabiting optimal conditions in the snowbed core, rather than tolerating sub-optimal conditions. Adaptation and acclimation responses observed in peripheral vascular species indicate that these are inhabiting sub-optimal conditions in the snowbed periphery. The relationship between snow-lie and climate is examined, with to the construction and examination of a second hypothesis that snowbed loyalty in the Scottish Highlands is high, while duration of snow cover is variable. Snow-lie loyalty is the product of prevailing wind conditions, which are persistent and consistent in Scotland leading to consistency in late snowbed location, while the occurrence of mid-winter thaws at all altitudes makes duration of snow cover through accumulated snow depth much more variable. Increased zonal flow in winter has affected snow-lie in the Scottish Highlands, with a slight decrease in snow-lie duration in recent years. It is not clear whether this pattern applies to all altitudes and accumulations at higher levels, especially in the western Highlands, may be increasing as a result of steeper winter-time lapse rates. With late snowbed location varying very little, it is possible that the consequences of global warming may not necessarily mean an extinction of the late snowbed bryophytes in Scotland, which constitute an important part of Britain's montane flora.