For the shortage of energy and the environmental issues, the development of solar cells has become an important technology. However, solar cells have low efficiency of energy conversion due to their high surface reflection on a flat Si substrate which is 38 %. To decrease the surface reflectance of the silicon solar cells, anti-reflection coatings (ARCs) are proposed on the solar cells. We use Lighttools software to investigate several kinds of ARCs to decrease the surface reflectance. We first consider the reflectance of the single-layer ARC with quarter wavelength. It can effectively decrease about 30 % surface reflection as compared with a flat Si substrate. The half-cylinder texture and the wave texture are designed on a PMMA single-layer coating. It is found that the half-cylinder ARC and the wave ARC can usefully diminish the surface reflectance for perpendicular light. Low reflectance can be achieved in the hemispherical microlens ARCs over an extended spectral region for omnidirectional incident light. The impact of the microlens sizes, periods, and arrangements are investigated. The lowest normal reflectance of the closely-packed triangular-lattice hemispherical microlens ARC is 4.8%. By adding smaller hemispherical microlenses, the surface reflectance of the hemispherical microlens ARC can be as low as 1.86 %. To obtain the lowest average surface reflectance, both-sided patterned surface texture ARCs are designed. Their lowest average surface reflectance is 2.24%. Finally, we simulate the reflectance of the nanowire ARCs. The influence of the wire length and the angle of inclination are discussed for high-efficiency and low-cost solar cells.

Bottomland hardwood stands managed as greentree reservoirs (GTRs) provide critical habitat for numerous wildlife species. The oak component in GTRs is of critical importance to wildlife managers since oaks produce high energy foods during the winter. However, GTR management warrants concern since it has been linked to increased mortality and insufficient regeneration of desirable species. This project evaluates willow oak acorn production and the effects of flooding and midstory control on the survival and growth of planted willow oak seedlings. Winter flooding reduced survival of seedlings inundated in early October but did not reduce survival of seedlings inundated in mid-November. Midstory control did not produce desired light levels for the future survival of underplanted seedlings. Acorn production was good for both years. Trees with DBH between 55 and 65 cm produced the majority of sound acorns. Acorn production was likely adequate to support foraging waterfowl and natural regeneration.

A unique property of spherical and hemispherical helical antennas is that they provide very broad half-power beamwdiths and circular polarization over a narrow bandwidth. In this thesis, new designs for hemispherical helical antennas are introduced that provide significant improvement in bandwidth, while maintaining the directivity and half-power beamwidth of the basic design. In the basic design, a simple wire of circular cross section is wound on the surface of a hemisphere, whereas in the proposed new designs a metallic strip forms the radiating element. Furthermore, the metallic strip may be tapered and tilted relative to the hemispherical surface, allowing wider bandwidth to be achieved. The antenna is fed by a coaxial cable with the inner conductor connected, through a matching section, to the radiating strip and its outer conductor connected to a ground plane. Radiation properties of the proposed hemispherical helical antennas are studied both theoretically and experimentally. A commercial software, based on the method of moments, is used to perform the numerical analysis of these helices. Three-dimensional far-field patterns, axial ratio, directivity, and voltage standing-wave ratio (VSWR) are calculated for several designs. The impacts of tapering as well as tilting of the metallic strip on radiation characteristics are examined. Also, matching of the proposed hemispherical antennas to 50â ¦ transmission lines is addressed. A 4.5-turn hemispherical helix with tapered radiating element and zero degree tilt angle, (metallic strip is perpendicular to the hemisphere axis of symmetry) provides the largest overall bandwidth. A nonlinearly tapered matching section is incorporated into the design in order to reduce the VSWR. For this design, an overall measured bandwidth of about 24% at a center frequency of 3.35 GHz is achieved. Over this bandwidth, the axial ratio remains below 3 dB, the VSWR is less than 2, and the directivity is about 9 ±1 dB. A half- power beamwidth of 70° is also obtained. A prototype of the best design was fabricated and tested using the VT indoor antenna range. Radiation patterns, the scattering parameter S₁₁, and the axial ratio were measured. The measured and simulated results agree reasonably well. In particular, agreements between measured and calculated far-field patterns and VSWR are quite remarkable. This compact, low profile antenna might find useful applications in avionics, global positioning systems (GPS), and high data rate wireless communication systems. / Master of Science

Much conservation work focuses on individual species, partly because of the perception that wildlife species are effective symbols for raising funds and drawing awareness to environmental causes. However, for species-based studies to aid conservation efforts, the biological and ecological needs of species need to be addressed in a way that informs decisions and provides concrete recommendations for land managers. This thesis addresses the forest cover needs of Ciconia stormi, a rare and understudied bird species that inhabits the islands of Borneo and Sumatra and parts of peninsular Malaysia. Levels of forest canopy cover associated with areas inhabited by Ciconia stormi are identified at multiple spatial resolutions using a 500m MODIS soft classification product, 30m Landsat data, and hemispherical photographs. Important threshold values of 75 percent tree cover was identified at the regional scale, and 85 percent at foraging sites. There has been severe forest disturbance in regions inhabited by Ciconia stormi between 1993 and 2004, indicating the species may be somewhat tolerant to disturbance. Areas having been logged at least 20 years before present average over 85 percent canopy cover and have few large gaps, indicating that these forests may be suitable habitat for the species.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oregon State University, 2010. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 160-172). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Understory light environments are inherently heterogeneous and therefore difficult to characterize. Numerous methods to measure understory light have been assessed in closed-canopied forests; however, the reliability of these methods has not been addressed for open-canopied forests. Therefore, the first objective of this study, presented in Chapter 3, was to test the accuracy and precision of various light measurement techniques at different time scales and sky conditions. The methods assessed performed differently depending on the sky condition and time of year when the sample was taken. To estimate annual photosynthetic photon flux density transmittance (annual %PPFD), the use of a 10-minute average of PPFD measured on an overcast day (%PPFDovercast) was effective, but accuracy decreased with decreasing solar altitude (ie season change). Hemispherical photographs used to estimate weighted canopy openness and gap fraction were effective methods, but gap light index (GLI) also derived from hemispherical photographs performed better. Accuracy of daily %PPFD estimates using %PPFDovercast, weighted canopy openness, and gap fraction were strongly affected by solar altitude and sky condition. Gap light index was very effective in estimating daily %PPFD for all sky conditions and time periods. The second objective of this study, presented in Chapter 4, was to characterize the relationship between canopy structure and spatial distribution of light by using three replicates of one uncut treatment and three harvest treatments: single tree, small gap (0.1 ha), and large gap (0.2 ha). Each harvest retained similar residual basal area but with different spatial patterns of the residuals, ranging from uniformly dispersed (single tree) to different degrees of aggregation (small and large gap). Average stand level light availability increased 12-22% when the same residual basal area of trees was distributed in clusters versus a uniform distribution. The variation of light availability increased as stands became more aggregated and larger amounts of the variation was explained by the spatial pattern of the canopy structure. Spatial autocorrelation range was twice as large in the small gap harvest then the other harvest treatments. It is suggested that seedling growth response to these differences in spatial patterns of light may differ between the different harvests. / Master of Science

A cobertura de dossel em uma floresta controla a quantidade, a qualidade e a distribuição da incidência de radiação solar, o que vem a refletir em diferentes níveis de umidade do solo, promovendo a interceptação das chuvas, consequentemente, reduzindo o seu impacto do solo. Além disso, a estrutura vegetal e a densidade do dossel condicionam não apenas o regime de radiação, mas também as trocas de energias e gases entre floresta e atmosfera. Este trabalho teve como objetivo comparar o uso do densiômetro, densitômetro, quadro reticulado e fotografias hemisféricas na obtenção da densidade do dossel visando encontrar uma metodologia de baixo custo e que garanta a mesma eficiência dos resultados de densidade de dossel obtidos de fotografias hemisféricas com máquina fotográfica. Resultados significativos foram obtidos para o uso do quadro reticulado, do densiômetro e da lente hemisférica fisheye clip para celular. / The canopy cover in a forest controls the solar radiation incidence quantity, quality and distribution, which it comes to reflect different levels of soil moisture, promoting the interception of rainfall and, thereafter, reducing its impact soil. Furthermore, plant canopy structure and density promotes not only the radiation system, but also energy and the exchange of gases between atmosphere and forest. This study aimed to compare the densiometer, densitometer lattice frame and hemispherical photographs uses on getting the canopy density in seeking a low methodology costs and guaranteeing the same efficiency of canopy density results hemispherical photographs with camera . This work presented significant results as the lattice frame, densiometer and hemispheric fisheye lens clip for mobile uses.

A cobertura de dossel em uma floresta controla a quantidade, a qualidade e a distribuição da incidência de radiação solar, o que vem a refletir em diferentes níveis de umidade do solo, promovendo a interceptação das chuvas, consequentemente, reduzindo o seu impacto do solo. Além disso, a estrutura vegetal e a densidade do dossel condicionam não apenas o regime de radiação, mas também as trocas de energias e gases entre floresta e atmosfera. Este trabalho teve como objetivo comparar o uso do densiômetro, densitômetro, quadro reticulado e fotografias hemisféricas na obtenção da densidade do dossel visando encontrar uma metodologia de baixo custo e que garanta a mesma eficiência dos resultados de densidade de dossel obtidos de fotografias hemisféricas com máquina fotográfica. Resultados significativos foram obtidos para o uso do quadro reticulado, do densiômetro e da lente hemisférica fisheye clip para celular. / The canopy cover in a forest controls the solar radiation incidence quantity, quality and distribution, which it comes to reflect different levels of soil moisture, promoting the interception of rainfall and, thereafter, reducing its impact soil. Furthermore, plant canopy structure and density promotes not only the radiation system, but also energy and the exchange of gases between atmosphere and forest. This study aimed to compare the densiometer, densitometer lattice frame and hemispherical photographs uses on getting the canopy density in seeking a low methodology costs and guaranteeing the same efficiency of canopy density results hemispherical photographs with camera . This work presented significant results as the lattice frame, densiometer and hemispheric fisheye lens clip for mobile uses.

Cette thèse, à la fois numérique et expérimentale, porte sur l’étude du transfert de chaleur par convection naturelle qui apparait au sein d’une cavité hémisphérique en régime stationnaire. L’enceinte est remplie d’eau ou de nanofluide de type eau / ZnO. La fraction volumique varie entre 0 (eau pure) et 10%. La coupole de la cavité est maintenue à température froide. Ce travail s’applique au domaine de l’ingénierie électronique et plus particulièrement au refroidissement des composants actifs de différentes formes. Trois géométries de sources de chaleur sont étudiées : la première est plane et circulaire (disque) et les suivantes, centrées sur le disque, de même surface d’échange, sont cubique et hémisphérique. L’angle d’inclinaison du disque varie entre 0 (coupole orientée vers le haut) et 180° (coupole orientée vers le bas) par rapport au plan horizontal. Les sources de chaleur génèrent des puissances qui conduisent à des Rayleigh importants. L’approche numérique est effectuée à l’aide de la méthode des volumes finis basée sur l’algorithme SIMPLE et un modèle monophasique. Pour chaque source active, le transfert de chaleur convectif est analysé et quantifié par l’intermédiaire d’une corrélation du type Nusselt-Rayleigh-Prandtl-angle d’inclinaison. D’un point de vue expérimental, la fabrication des sources de chaleur est minutieusement décrite étape par étape et le calcul du coefficient de transfert convectif moyen expérimental est détaillé. La comparaison mesures-corrélations remet en question l’efficacité du nanofluide en termes de refroidissement. / This numerical and experimental thesis deals with natural convective heat transfer that occurs in a hemispherical cavity in steady state. The enclosure is filled with water or ZnO / water nanofluid. The volume fraction varies between 0% (pure water) and 10%. The coupola of the cavity is kept at a cold temperature. This work corresponds to the field of electronics and the cooling of different actives composants. Three active heating sources are studied: the first one is plane and circular (the disc) and the followings, centered on the disc with the same surface, are cubical and hemispherical. The tilted angle varies between 0 (dome facing upwards) and 180° (dome facing downwards) with respect to the horizontal plane. Heat sources generate important heat fluxes leading to high Rayleigh numbers values. Numerical approach is done by means of the volume control method based on the SIMPLE algorithm and using monophasic model. For each active source, the convective heat transfer is analyzed and quantified by means of a correlation of the Nusselt-Rayleig-Prandtl-tilt angle type. Experimentally, the heat sources are built step by step and the average convective heat transfer coefficient is calculated. The comparison measures-correlations questions on the cooling nanofluid’s efficiency.