The underlying objective of this research is to improve the overall understanding of how spatial and temporal variability in macroporosity and soil hydraulic properties in the shallow subsurface influence the long term mobility of agricultural nutrients, and specifically the movement of liquid swine manure, in macroporous, tile drained soils. The principal motivation for the work was to provide insight into dynamic nutrient mobility in this type of agricultural environment in order to guide both the efficiency and environmental sustainability of nutrient management practices. The results of this work facilitate the advancement of our conceptual understanding and our ability to simulate preferential flow and transport in structured agricultural soils that are subject to seasonal hydrologic patterns similar to those found in the humid continental climate of southwestern Ontario

A major challenge to cold regions hydrology and northern water resources management lies in predicting runoff dynamically in the context of warming-induced changes to the rates and patterns of ground thaw and drainage. Meeting this challenge requires new knowledge of the mechanisms and rates of ground thaw and their implications to water drainage and storage patterns and processes. The study carries out to evaluate the concept of energy-based runoff in the perspective of ground heat flux, soil thaw and liquid moisture content, tortuosity of snow-free area, preferential flow and discharge of the hillslope. Based on field measurements, coupled energy and water flow is simulated in the Area of Interest (AOI) with a half-hour time interval by the distributed hydrological model, GEOtop. In the field, the saturated hydraulic conductivity varies exponentially between the superficial organic layer and the underlying mineral layer. In the simulation, the parameters of the soil physical properties are input by fourteen uneven layers below the ground surface. Starting from the initially frozen state, the process of soil thaw is simulated with dynamic variables such as soil liquid moisture and ice content, hydraulic conductivity, thermal conductivity and heat capacity. The simulated frost table depths are validated by 44-point measurements and the simulation of point soil temperature is also compared to data measured in an excavated soil pit. As a result, the frost table topography is dominated by both the snow-free pattern and the energy fluxes on the ground surface. The rate and magnitude of runoff derived from snow drift and the ice content of frozen soil is greatly influenced by the frost table topography. According to the simulation, the frost table depth is closely regressed with the ground surface temperature by a power function. As soil thawing progresses, ground heat flux reduces gradually and the rate of soil thaw becomes small when the frost table descends. Along with the snow-free area expanding, the average soil moisture of the AOI increases prior to that time when the average frost table is less than 25 cm deep. The snow-free patches expand heterogeneously in the AOI, which causes the spatial and temporal variation of hydraulic conductivity due to the non-uniform frost table depth. According to the simulation, the transit time of the flow through the AOI decreases to the shortest span on May 13 with the average frost table of 10 cm. Before this date, the time lag between snowmelt percolation and slope runoff is about 8-10 hours; while after this date, the time lag is no more than 5 hours. The pattern of the preferential flow in the AOI highly depends on the frost table topography. When the snow-free patches are widely scattered and the average frost table is between 0 and 10 cm, the preferential flow paths are inhibited. With soil thaw progresses, the preferential flow paths are prominent with the largest single contributing area occurring when the average frost table is between 10 cm to 15 cm. When the average frost table reaches 25 cm, the importance of preferential flow is not apparent, and matrix flow prevails.

<p><b>Background and problem:</b> It is important for a policy aiming at overcoming discrimination to be justifiable as just or as creating justice. When a policy is implemented lacking such qualities it is argued to be unjust, which creates a problem. During the last decades there has been massive immigration to the Western countries from countries marked by war and disaster. This has created problems of integration into the “new” society, and the use of preferential policies has become increasingly topical. Whether or not the use of preferential policies is a just method is the basis of this thesis.</p><p><b>Aim</b>: The aim of this thesis is to study the concept of preferential policies in an impartial perspective of fairness. By impartial it is meant to present facts speaking both for and against preferential policies as being just. The main question of this thesis is whether or not preferential treatment is a just method to create equality within the society.</p><p><b>Method</b>: A research method of textual analysis has been used combined with an analysis of structure of arguments.</p><p><b>Theoretical framework</b>: First, definitions of discrimination and preferential policies as such are focused upon in the third chapter. Second, the concept of social justice and its connection to preferential policies is treated. The question if preferential policies should be directed towards individuals or groups is a central question in the debate and it will demand its space in this thesis. Here the importance of merit will be discussed. The section about individuals and groups will be followed by a section discussing the importance of ethnic diversity which will be followed by a comparison of the development of preferential policies in the USA and Sweden. Last, there will be a section where an attempt to generalize between arguments is made.</p><p><b>Conclusions and Discussion</b>: In this part a conclusion and a discussion will be presented. Here conclusions will be drawn from the gathered material. Finally there will be a discussion on the subject and of how the research procedure has proceeded.</p>

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the issue of preferential rights in relation to the increased practice of hiring temporary staff. The object is illuminated from a diversity perspective by seeing what a circumvention of the preferential rights may have consequences for vulnerable groups on the Swedish labor market.   The question of preferential rights to reinstatement is controlled in  The Employment Protection Act. The preferential right is for the protection of workers made redundant due to redundancy. The use of agency workers has increased significantly in the Swedish labor market since the industry's legalization in 1993. This has created some problems in terms of preferential rights.   To a circumvention of the law, shall exist requires that the measures constitute circumvention is justified, measures should have been sought to circumvent the law and been unfair in view of the particular case. Hiring of staff is not considered as a new employment, which is the requirement to invoke preferential rights, thus causing it to staff hiring is legitimate action under the preferential time.   To reduce the abuse of the right of priority, I believe that the application of law should be changed so that it takes into account the triangular available on today's labor market.

One unresolved issue in early word learning research is the relationship between word learning, categorization, and attention. Two distinct cognitive processes, attentional preferences related to categorical processing and inter-modal matching are involved in this relationship. Keeping the effects of these processes separate and controlled can be a difficult task. Not doing so can potentially confound the interpretation of research in this area. In a series of four preferential looking studies, the effects of referential assignment and novelty seeking in infancy were teased apart. In Study 1, 13-month olds preferred to look toward a monitor on which the stimuli changed category on every trial, and away from a monitor on which the stimuli were drawn from a single category. This preference developed in conditions in which infants listened to labels, non-language sound, or participated in silence. In Study 2, 18-month-olds developed the same preference when listening to non-language sounds or when participating in silence, but developed no preference when listening to labels. Results of studies 3 and 4 suggest that the lack of preference by 18-month-olds in the label condition result from competing behaviors of novelty seeking and referential assignment. / text

The objective of this study was to use an applied tracer to study lateral ground water flow paths in the top ~0.5 m of clay settling areas (CSA) in order to gain better understanding of hydrologic connectivity of CSAs to the surrounding hydrologic systems. The study site was located on the non-operational Mosaic Fort Mead Mine property in Fort Meade, Polk County, Florida. This lateral tracer test study is a follow up from a vertical tracer test study performed at the same site location in 2007. The CSA is generally composed of a well developed, clay rich, subangular-blocky surface layer ~0-1.0m, which exhibits abundant desiccation cracks plus other macropores underlain by a massive, saturated, clay-rich sublayer from ~1.0-2.5 m. A bromide tracer was applied into an injected trench. All 60L of the applied tracer flowed out of the down gradient face of the trench quickly, over an eleven minute period. The Bromide tracer was rapidly transported laterally and was detected as far as 16 m from the starting point just 24 hours after application, as well as in the inundated north pond adjacent to the study area. Bromide concentration distribution was not uniform over the study area during any time period, with an initial disorganized bromide pulse followed by secondary pulse concentrated on the north side of the sampling area. This spatial-temporal distribution of bromide indicates preferential flow through desiccation cracks or other macropores. Bromide concentrations in the north pond increased over time while pond stage fluctuated due to this shallow lateral macropore dominated flow in and out. Although it is most likely true that flow paths from the CSA to the adjacent hydrologic landscape during the wet season is dominated by rapid shallow lateral flow through macropores, specific flow paths, macropore length, diameter and distribution and fluxes still remain unquantified. Therefore, how the hydrology of CSAs affects the adjacent hydrologic landscape still remain unquantified.

The objective of this study was to use applied and naturally-occurring geochemical tracers to study the hydrology of clay settling areas (CSAs) and the hydrological connectivity between CSAs and surrounding hydrological landscapes. The study site is located on the Fort Meade Mine in Polk County, Florida. The surface of the CSA is covered in desiccation cracks which swell and shrink in response to wetting and drying. Bromide was used as an applied tracer to study hydrological processes in the upper part of the CSA. Bromide infiltrated rapidly and perched on an uncracked massive sublayer. Bromide concentrations attenuated in the upper part of the profile without being translated vertically down through the lower part of the profile suggesting that bromide was lost to lateral rather than to vertical downward transport. Infiltration and lateral flow were rapid suggesting that preferential flow through desiccation cracks and other macropores likely dominates flow in the upper part of the profile. Naturally-occurring dissolved constituents and stable isotopes of hydrogen and oxygen were used as naturally-occurring tracers to study the hydrological connectivity between the CSA and the surrounding hydrological landscape. The relative contributions of source waters were determined using a two-end, mass-balance mixing model with sodium as a conservative natural tracer. On average, water samples downgradient from the CSA were ~80% rainfall/ambient water and ~20% CSA water. Discharge from the CSA to the surrounding surface water bodies and surficial aquifer occurs laterally over, through, and/or under the berms and/or vertically through the thick uncracked massive sublayer. However, the precise flowpaths from the CSA to the surrounding hydrological landscape are unclear and the fluxes remain unquantified, so the effects of CSAs on the hydrology of the surrounding and underlying hydrological landscape also remain unquantified.

No description available.

<p>Nano-structures were investigated for the advancement of energy conversion technology because of their enhanced catalytic, thermal, and physiochemical interfacial properties and increased solar absorption. Hydrogen is a widely investigated and proven fuel and energy carrier for promising "green" technologies such as fuel cells. Difficulties involving storage, transport, and availability remain challenges that inhibit the widespread use of hydrogen fuel. For these reasons, in-situ hydrogen production has been at the forefront of research in the renewable and sustainable energy field. A common approach for hydrogen generation is the reforming of alcoholic and hydrocarbon fuels from fossil and renewable sources to a hydrogen-rich gas mixture.</p><p>Unfortunately, an intrinsic byproduct of any fuel reforming reaction is toxic and highly reactive CO, which has to be removed before the hydrogen gas can be used in fuel cells or delicate chemical processes. In this work, Au/alpha-Fe2O3 catalyst was synthesized using a modified co-precipitation method to generate an inverse catalyst model. The effects of introducing CO2 and H2O during preferential oxidation (PROX) of CO were investigated. For realistic conditions of (bio-)fuel reforming, 24% CO2 and 10% water the highest document conversion, 99.85% was achieved. The mechanism for PROX is not known definitively, however, current literature believes the gold particle size is the key. In contrast, we emphasize the tremendous role of the support particle size. A particle size study was performed to have in depth analysis of the catalysts morphology during synthesis. With this study we were also able to modify how the catalyst was made to further reduce the particle size of the support material leading to ~99.9% conversion. We also showed that the resulting PROX output gas could power a PEM fuel cell with only a 4% drop in power without poisoning the membrane electrode assembly.</p><p> The second major aim of this study is to develop an energy-efficient technology that fuses photothermal catalysis and plasmonic phenomena. Although current literature has claimed that the coupling of these technologies is impossible, here we demonstrate the fabrication of reaction cells for plasmon-induced photo-catalytic hydrogen production. The localized nature of the plasmon resonance allows the entire system to remain at ambient temperatures while a high-temperature methanol reformation reaction occurs at the plasmonic sites. Employing a nanostructured plasmonic substrate, we have successfully achieved sufficient thermal excitement (via localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR)) to facilitate a heterogeneous chemical reaction. The experimental tests demonstrate that hydrogen gas can indeed be generated in a cold reactor, which has never been done before. Additionally, the proposed method has the highest solar absorption out of several variations and significantly reduces the cost, while increasing the efficiency of solar fuels.</p> / Dissertation

Unlike municipal water supplies, provincial regulations do not require systematic testing of domestic well water, which may adversely impact local residents should contamination occur. Private wells are typically shallow relative to municipal wells, and thus, are particularly vulnerable to sources of surficial contamination if preferential recharge pathways such as natural fractures or faulty seals are present. In order to determine the relative importance of well seal integrity as a preferential pathway, a practical detection method was developed based on infiltrometry. This method successfully detected faulty well seals in a wide range of geological settings across Canada, including: Hobbema, Alberta; Lindsay, Ontario; and Chelsea, Québec. It was most successful in areas of minimal heterogeneity and where the surficial geology is composed of fine-grained sediments. The community of Chelsea (Québec) was also the primary study site to examine a range of factors affecting water quality including physical characteristics, faulty well seals, other anthropogenic activities and seasonality. Water samples were collected over a period of 14 months and analyzed for bacteria and major-ion chemistry. The results show that the consideration of physical features alone is not enough to predict vulnerability in the study area. Seasonal fluctuations in ionic concentrations (e.g. ionic strength, NO3-N and Cl-) and coliform bacteria are observed and result from disperse and rapid recharge events. Multivariate analysis techniques (e.g. principal components analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis) demonstrate that preferential recharge pathways and anthropogenic activities, such as domestic effluents affect the groundwater quality. The data and findings of this study were used to assist in the design of a probabilistic risk assessment model based on the Poisson distribution. This study demonstrates the complexity and the challenges related to bacterial contamination in drilled wells. In spite of these challenges, this analysis was useful as a baseline to assess the impact of anthropogenic activities, and may be used in future studies to assist municipalities in the evaluation and protection of groundwater supplies.