Cellular network expansion in rural areas has been traditionally slower than in dense urban areas. Area coverage in rural areas is fundamentally limited by the deployment cost for the operator. The 5th generation new radio (5G NR) network is designed to deliver unprecedented levels of capacity, high data rates, low latency and high reliability anytime and anywhere. The focus of 5G NR development is on relatively short-range communication using high frequency bands (e.g. mmWave-length) where lots of spectrum is available. For extremely long-range communication (e.g. in rural areas) high frequency bands are less suitable due to the high signal attenuation. One way to increase coverage in rural areas is to allow end users to deploy their own personal local hot-spot nodes that connect to the cellular network. A personal rural hot-spot can make use of higher transmission power and have better antennas than what normal user terminals can be equipped with. This thesis work will study the impacts of ”user deployed rural hot-spots” on the network like how much the network energy consumption can be decreased, what is the effect of discontinuation transmission (DTX) on network sleep mode and how inter site distance (ISD) can be increased to increase the coverage. One way to increase rural coverage by using the user deployed hot-spot is to reduce the network energy consumption for network operators and results show that by using user deployed hot-spots (enhanced UE) decreased the network energy consumption and while enhancing the BS configuration will require additional capital expense (CAPEX) investment for the network operators. User deployed hot-spot provide better connectivity for the users that are lying in network edges and helps to increase the inter site distance (ISD) of wireless networks.

Sustainable development is now being recognised as a vital component of our society in the environmental, ethical, social, technological, economic, and institutional aspects, or dimensions, so, this thesis develops a framework to quantitatively measure sustainability. This thesis is distinctive in that it focuses on quantitative methods encapsulated in a formal assessment procedure and includes sustainability concepts that have rarely been put into practical use in sustainability reports. The framework is designed along the strategy that the methodology needs to be scale invariant and recursive, meaning the procedure is the same irrespective of the scale the user is interested in, and that different people can focus at different levels of sustainability by following a similar procedure. While the quantification process is aimed to be as unbiased as possible, a configuration of the tools from Total Quality Management (TQM) is adapted to identify sustainability indicators which are then mapped onto a scalar with mathematical functions. The sustainability indices are presented according to the amount of details needed by different users ─ some may need just one overall figure while others may need sustainability indices broken down by the six sustainability dimensions and presented on a spider diagram, while others may need all the details for analysis. This methodology also caters for sustainability analysis by different stakeholders. To fully demonstrate the potential of the methodology, the author has chosen to test it on a large-size industry sector so that it can have the capacity to be scaled up to a country or down to a small business, and on an industry sector that is important on its own right. Furthermore, this sector needs to be illustrative and has nontrivial complex problems. Under these criteria, the electricity sector of New Zealand was selected. The robustness of the methodology was investigated with inputs from three evaluators with different views: a standard view from the author that was made after much research in the sector and in the concepts of sustainability, a view with an environmental bias and one that focuses on commercial interests.

Low Pressure Die Casting (LPDC) process is one the most common casting process to produce structural automotive components, such as alloy wheels and suspension components. It has been identified that cavity filling and solidification process are two most critical aspects to produce premium quality casting components.During the solidification process of casting alloy, it is a well known phenomenon that metal experiences volumetric shrinkage due to its density difference between liquid and solid phase. When this volumetric shrinkage is not properly compensated, then a casting defect commonly known as solidification shrinkage occurs. The solidification shrinkage has very detrimental effects on structural integrity required for premium quality casting such as aluminium alloy wheels.Literature and practical experiences of foundry men show that it is critical to achieve unidirectional solidification pattern by avoiding an isolated hot spot in order to minimise the solidification shrinkage. However, it is found that the geometry of industrial casting applications is often constrained by other design factors that would not naturally avoid these isolated hot spots. The subject of this research, aluminium alloy wheels, is not excluded from this constraint.In aluminium alloy wheels, an isolated hot spot is commonly observed in an area known as rim and spoke junction due to its geometry constraints. Consequently, the solidification shrinkage is commonly experienced, which is undesirable due to its detrimental effects for the structural integrity of alloy wheels. In order to minimise the solidification shrinkage, forced cooling method is applied to avoid an isolated hot spot. The control of this forced cooling is achieved by cooling media, flow rate of cooling media and duration cooling circuit. Foundry experiments in industrial environment were conducted producing aluminium alloy wheels using commercially treated A356 (Al-Si) alloy, where different durations of cooling circuit were used to understand the sensitivity of solidification shrinkage formation to the duration of cooling circuit. This was followed by metallurgical structure analysis and numerical modelling to suggest the sensitivity of cooling circuit duration in controlling solidification shrinkage.The major finding conclusion of this research is that control of the shrinkage formation is not very sensitive to the duration cooling circuit. It is suggested that as casting solidifies initially from the mould wall, it retracts away from the cast-mould interface due to thermal contraction. Consequently, air gap is formed between casting and mould interface, creating an effective thermal resistance layer. Thereafter, heat transfer across the cast-mould interface is not sensitive to the change in the cooling channel which is a distance to the cast-mould interface.Some limitations of numerical modelling and metallurgical analysis were also identified during this research and recommendations were made to improve the accuracy of local hot spot prediction in production of aluminium alloy wheels. More specifically, numerical modelling of the effect of grain refinement and use of non homogeneous material property (particularly fraction of solid) for rapidly chilled area. Fraction of eutectic rather than secondary dendrites arm spacing is a proper microstructure parameter that can be used to locate the hot spot.

Pyrenophora teres, the causal agent of net blotch of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), exists in two forms; P. teres f. teres and P. teres f. maculata. Both forms induce a combination of brown necrotic spots and extensive chlorosis in susceptible barley cultivars. Although a number of low molecular weight compounds (LMWCs) have been previously isolated from P. teres culture filtrates, they only induced certain components of symptoms. Fungal metabolites were extracted from culture filtrates of both forms of the pathogen and separated into low (<3kDa) and high molecular weight compounds (HMWCs, >10 kDa) with each fraction inducing a component of the net blotch symptoms in a barley leaf toxicity assay. Inactivation of both LMWCs (<1kDa) and HMWCs resulted in loss of activity confirming their potential role in symptom development. Low molecular weight compounds induced chlorosis and water soaking but not the brown necrotic spots or lesions usually seen during the infection of barley by P. teres. The high molecular weight compounds (>10 kDa) induced the brown necrotic spots or lesions with no chlorosis evident. Further characterisation of LMWCs showed that they are not host specific while HMWCs exhibited host specificity. LMWCs were purified and further analysed using high voltage paper electrophoresis, staining and mass spectrometry. Electrophoretic properties and staining of the LMWCs with ninhydrin indicated that both forms of P. teres produced similar LMWCs in the conditions grown. Each form produced eight ninhydrin-positive compounds with the samerelative mobilities. Each individual compound was shown to induce chlorosis in excised barley leaves. All compounds except the one isolated in this study appear to be derivatives of or are the previously described compounds; N-(2-amino-2carboxyethyl) aspartic acid (Toxin A), aspergillomarasmine A, anhydroaspergillomarasmine A and aspergillomarasmine B. The exception is a bioactive UV absorbing LMWC which appears to be a reductive conjugation of the α-keto acid of phenylalanine with Toxin A. The HMWCs (>10kDa) were proteinaceous since they were identifiable using Coomassie staining. Additionally, the loss of activity that occurred with incubation at 40, 60, and 80 °C for 30 and 60 min followed a pattern fairly typical for protein denaturation. Further, treatment with protease decreased their phytotoxicity in proportion to the amount of enzyme used. Enzyme and heat treatment of proteins extracted from each form showed that proteins of P. teres f. teres are more resistant to heat and enzyme treatment compared with those of P. teres f. maculata. This suggests the protein(s) involved in symptom induction by P. teres f. teres and P. teres f. maculata are different which contributes to the difference in the symptom expression during the interaction between the pathogens and barley. Proteinaceous metabolites extracted from P. teres f. teres and P. teres f. maculata ranged from 10 to 100 kDa. Fractions purified using gel filtration had biological activity when they contained eight proteins when extracted from P. teres f. maculata (90, 80, 75, 55, 48, 35, 14 and 12 kDa) and six proteins when extracted from P. teres f. teres (90, 80, 55, 48, 14 and 12 kDa). Additionally, intercellular washing fluids (IWF) extracted from barley plants inoculated with both forms of P. teres, contained proteins of the same size as those in the biologically active fractions extracted from culture filtrates of P. teres f. maculata (80, 14 and 12 kDa) and P. teres f. teres (80, 48 and 14 kDa). Automated MS/MS sequencing of the biologically active proteins showed no resemblance to the sequences or conserved domain information available in public databases and as a consequence, these proteins were considered as novel proteins for P. teres. However, exact short matches with fragments resulting from the 80, 48 and 14 kDa proteins, showed considerable homology with ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters and their components, cellulases, serine proteinases as well as some hypothetical proteins isolated from different fungal species. Reaction of six plant species including one susceptible barley cultivar (Sloop) and one resistant line (CI9214) to P. teres showed that partially purified proteins induce the symptoms selectively in barley cultivars where the proteinaceous metabolites only induced brown necrotic spot/lesions in barley with a greater response seen on the susceptible cultivar Sloop when compared to the resistant line CI9214. No symptoms were seen on other plant species employed in this study suggesting that the proteinaceous metabolites isolated in this study are host specific phytotoxins. This research has allowed the first isolation of proteinaceous host-specific toxins from P. teres as well as the identification of a UV-sensitive LMWC phytotoxin not previously described. Proteinaceous toxins induced brown necrotic spots/lesions specific to the host while the LMWCs induced chlorosis in a number of different plant species. This contributes significantly to the body of knowledge defining how symptoms are caused during the pathogenicity process in the interaction between P. teres and barley. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1297672 / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, 2007

Carcharias taurus is listed as Critically Endangered along the east coast of Australia and there is concern about their status globally. The use of traditional tag–recapture methods to monitor the east coast C. taurus population have been discontinued due to tag–biofouling and injuries that relate to tag attachment. In the current study, captive and wild C. taurus were used to assess whether spots present on their flanks were suitable natural tags for individual shark recognition. Photographic images of seven captive sharks taken at monthly intervals for 13 months and at three years after the start of the study indicated that their spot number, position and relative size did not change over this period. Similarly, eighty–nine wild sharks photographically re–identified at least 23 months after their initial identification (and in one case after 14 years) confirmed long–term spot–pattern retention. Photographic recaptures of individual C. taurus provided information about their temporal and spatial distribution and movement patterns along the Australian east coast in relation to maturity, sex and reproductive condition. A total of 930 sharks were photo–identified between 2004 and 2008 at 23 aggregation sites between Wolf Rock and Montague Island. Of these, 479 were females (271 mature, 208 immature) and 452 were males (288 mature, 60 sub–adults, 104 juveniles). The distribution of pregnant C. taurus was seasonally and temporally distinct from all other sharks. Visibly pregnant C. taurus were recorded at Wolf Rock (the most northern site) from February until October, although many sharks left during July. Pregnant C. taurus were also observed at North Moreton Island, Flat Rock and Fish Rock between June and November. Resting (mature, non–gravid) females and mature males were mostly observed at mid–southern sites from December to June, with northern counts increasing from June to November. The majority of immature sharks were recorded at mid–southern sites. Of 930 sharks identified between 2004 and 2008, 149 were identified at more than one site. On average, mature females moved 338 km (SD ± 465), mature males 340 km (SD ± 299), immature females 147 km (SD ± 98), sub–adult males 185 km (SD ± 216), and juvenile males 271 km (SD ± 237). The maximum rate of movement per day was 18.5 km for a mature female shark, 20.7 km for a mature male, 4.3 km for an immature female, 86 km for a sub–adult male and 4 km for a juvenile male. Mature males and mature non–pregnant females tended to move north from mid–winter and mate in late spring/early summer in warmer waters. From about mid–winter, pregnant females began to move from the warmer waters of their gestation areas to cooler southern waters to pup (probably from late spring to mid–summer). The movement patterns of immature sharks varied temporally, and were more limited spatially. Underwater censuses, photo–identification and acoustic tracking of individual C. taurus were used to investigate their reproductive periodicity, localised movements and behavioural segregation at Wolf Rock – the most northerly aggregation site on the east Australian seaboard. A biennial reproductive cycle was indicated for 18 of 28 females for which re–identifications spanned at least two mating and/or pregnancy events. Nine of the 28 sharks appeared to exhibit a triennial reproductive cycle. Male C. taurus were observed between July and January, but were absent between February and April. Scuba divers reported seeing some mating scars on individuals from mid–October, however fresh mating scars were predominately observed on photographs of individual C. taurus taken in November and December. Four acoustically–tagged mature female sharks remained within 500 m of the Wolf Rock aggregation site within a marine sanctuary zone for 78 – 90 % of the 11–15 day study period. A minimum population estimate of 930 individuals is provided from all sharks identified between 2004 and 2008. In addition, a Jolly–Seber (open model design) mark–recapture analysis on data obtained during four scheduled photo–identification surveys (conducted between July 2006 and February 2008 at 25 aggregation sites along the east coast of Australia) was used to estimate the size of this population. A maximum of 272 sharks (143 females and 129 males) were identified during any scheduled survey period. Model averaging across the highest rated JS models (Popan data formulation) resulted in an estimate of 756 males (95% CI = 590 – 922) and 1185 females (95% CI = 901 – 1469). The mark–recapture abundance estimate is considered preliminary and requires further model development to incorporate the heterogeneity in distribution and migration patterns within the C. taurus population. The occurrence of retained fishing gear and gear–related jaw injuries were quantified from the four scheduled photo–identification surveys along the east coast of Australia. A total of 673 sharks were identified with 119 occurrences of retained fishing gear or jaw injury recorded from 113 individual sharks. For sharks that were known by spot–patterns on both flanks, 29 % of females and 52 % of males were seen with retained fishing gear or a gear–related jaw injury. The largest numbers of identified sharks (222) during the surveys were seen at Fish Rock (off the New South Wales coast): 48 % of all sharks identified with retained fishing gear were first identified at this site. Fish Rock is a designated critical habitat for C. taurus, but most forms of line fishing, except fishing while anchored or moored with bait and/or wire trace line are permitted. Results from the surveys clearly demonstrated that C. taurus is susceptible to a large variety of fishing gear and fishing methods. Current protection measures for C. taurus appear insufficient at this site, particularly as large aggregations that include immature and mature sharks occur consistently throughout the year.

Plusieurs données de marchés financiers, telles que les prix spot de marchés européens de l'électricité interconnectés, présentent de la longue mémoire, au sens de la décroissance hyperbolique des autocorrélations combinée avec un phénomène d'hétéroskédasticité et de cycles périodiques ou non. Pour modéliser de tels comportements, nous introduisons d'une part les processus GIGARCH à k facteurs et nous proposons deux méthodes d'estimation des paramètres. Nous développons les propriétés asymptotiques des estimateurs de chacune des méthodes. De plus, afin de comparer les propriétés asymptotiques des estimateurs, des simulations de Monté Carlo sont effectuées. D'autre part, nous proposons un modèle longue mémoire généralisé multivarié (MVGARMA à k facteurs) pour modéliser conjointement deux marchés européens de l'électricité interconnectés. Nous donnons une procédure pratique d'estimation des paramètres. Pour la prévision, nous fournissons les expressions analytiques des prédicteurs de moindres carrés pour les modèles proposés et les intervalles de confiance des erreurs de prévision. Enfin, nous appliquons ces deux modèles sur les prix spot de l'électricité des marchés français et allemand et nous comparons leurs capacités prédictives.

L'étalonnage de SPOT-HRV est réalisé depuis plus de dix ans sur le site de La Crau. Lors de campagnes de mesures, plusieurs équipes caractérisent l'atmosphère et la réflectance de surface afin de prédire le signal d'entrée de HRV. Notre objectif est de réaliser cet étalonnage à partir de mesures automatiques en continu.<br /><br />La théorie du transfert radiatif est utilisée pour prédire le signal satellitaire et nous en rappelons les principes. Nous présentons ensuite les satellites SPOT, en particulier SPOT4. Enfin, nous exposons les méthodes employées pour l'étalonnage absolu et relatif des capteurs.<br /><br />Notre instrumentation consiste en un radiomètre entièrement étalonné in situ. L'étalonnage en éclairement est basé sur la méthode de Bouguer. En luminance, il est effectué aux courtes longueurs d'onde sur la diffusion Rayleigh. Enfin, l'étalonnage est propagé aux<br />grandes longueurs d'onde grâce à une méthode originale. Nous présentons un bilan de l'étalonnage in situ de la station.<br /><br />Les effets atmosphériques et la réflectance de surface sont évalués à partir des mesures de la station. Les aérosols sont décrits par leur épaisseur optique et leur granulométrie, représentée par un modèle de Junge. La réflectance bidirectionnelle est ramenée dans la<br />géométrie de visée du satellite grâce à une modélisation des effets directionnels.<br /><br />La luminance TOA est alors estimée. La transmission gazeuse est calculée par le code 6S. Le code des Ordres Successifs de Diffusion est utilisé pour calculer le signal TOA. Nous avons évalué quatre jeux de coefficients pour SPOT4 et un pour SPOT2. La comparaison avec les coefficients du CNES montre un écart plus important que l'incertitude estimée de notre méthode. L'écart reste comparable à ceux obtenus auparavant sur La Crau. Il ne semble pas dû à un biais systématique et pourra être réduit par une collecte conséquente. Maintenant opérationnelle, la station permettra cette collecte, améliorant ainsi l'estimation des coefficients de SPOT.

L'objectif de cette thèse est d'étudier les potentialités de la télédétection aérospatiale pour l'aide à la gestion de sole cannière Réunionnaise. Nous avons utilisé une base de données d'images multitemporelles SPOT 4&5 (années 2002 et 2003) et organisé une campagne d'acquisition d'images hyperspectrales CASI en septembre 2002. Simultanément, nous avons assuré le déroulement et la mise en place d'un protocole de mesures au champ pour suivre l'évolution des paramètres biophysiques descriptifs de l'état du couvert de la canne (surface foliaire, taux d'azote, biomasse de la culture) et des paramètres agronomiques (suivi des coupes et des replantations). Les résultats ont montré qu'il est possible d'estimer la surface foliaire (LAI) à partir de l'indice de végétation normalisé (NDVI) ainsi que le rendement canne à partir de l'indice de végétation NDVI calculé au moment du développement maximal du couvert. Avec les données SPOT, la meilleure estimation du rendement canne à l'échelle parcellaire résulte du couplage entre le modèle de croissance Mosicas et les profils d'évolution de surface foliaire obtenus à partir des images SPOT 4&5. Les données hyperspectrales CASI permettent une meilleure estimation de la surface foliaire et de la biomasse fraîche que les données SPOT 4&5 ainsi qu'une estimation du taux d'azote foliaire qui est, en phase de maturation, un indicateur de richesse en sucre. La possibilité de discriminer des parcelles de canne en fonction de leurs états de surface (pleine végétation, coupée ou labourée) nous a permis de développer des applications opérationnelles de cartographie dynamique de la sole cannière en temps quasi réel : le suivi des coupes et des replantations.

On développe dans ces travaux un outil numérique permettant de simuler le procédé Friction Stir Spot Welding. Le modèle est basé sur un couplage fluide/solide et permet une description correcte des parties fortement malaxée et solide de la structure. Une approche ALE est utilisée avec un mouvement arbitraire défini de façon que le maillage suive la matière dans la partie solide mais pas dans la partie pâteuse. Ceci permet la simulation de plusieurs tours de l'outil tout en suivant les bords des tôles soudées durant le procédé. Ce modèle numérique s'appuie sur l'élément fini mixte P1+/P1. Ce dernier a été développé avec une formulation température/vitesse/pression en mécanique des fluides (dans le cas d'un écoulement laminaire incompressible et transitoire) et en mécanique des solides dans le cadre des grandes transformations. La transition fluide/solide est effectuée au moyen d'un test explicite sur une température moyenne par élément, l'interface passant alors entre les éléments du maillage. Une procédure d'actualisation de la géométrie associée à l'approche ALE est effectuée à convergence. Ce couplage a été intégré au sein d'une nouvelle option du code SYSWELD. On présente ici une première simulation du procédé Friction Stir Spot Welding. D'autre part, deux montages spécifiques sont proposés pour l'investigation du procédé Friction Stir Spot Welding. Ces deux dispositifs intègrent une démarche de validation globale visant à calibrer la modélisation proposée du procédé. La stratégie expérimentale suivie est détaillée, et des premiers résultats obtenus sur un alliage d'aluminium basique sont présentés.

Study of liquid film dynamics is of significant importance to the understanding and control of various industrial processes that involve spray cooling (condensation), heating (boiling), coating, cleaning and lubrication. For instance, the critical heat flux (CHF) of boiling heat transfer is one of the key parameters ensuring the efficiency and safety of nuclear power plants under both operational and accident conditions, which occurs as the liquid layers (microlayer and macrolayer) near the heater wall lose their integrity. However, an experimental quantification of thin liquid film dynamics is not straightforward, since the measurement at micro-scale is a challenge, and further complicated by the chaotic nature of boiling process. The object of present study is to develop experimental methods for the diagnosis of liquid film dynamics, and to obtain data for the film instability under various conditions. A dedicated test facility was designed and constructed where micro conductive probes and confocal optical sensors were used to measure the thickness and dynamic characteristics of a thin liquid film on various heater surfaces, while a high speed camera was used to get visual observation. Extensive tests were performed to calibrate and verify the two thickness measuring systems. The micro conductive measuring system was proven to have a high reliability and repeatability with maximum system error less than 5µm, while the optical measuring system is capable of recording the film dynamics with spatial resolution of less than 1 mm. The simultaneous measurement on the same liquid film shows that the two techniques are in a good agreement with respect to accuracy, but the optical sensors have a much higher acquisition rate up to 30 kHz, which are more suitable for rapid process. The confocal optical sensors were therefore employed to measure the dynamic thickness of liquid films (ethanol, hexane and water) evaporating on various horizontal heater surfaces (aluminum, copper, silicon, stainless steel and titanium) to investigate the influences of heat flux, the surface and liquid properties on the film instability and the critical thickness. The critical thickness of water film evaporating on various surfaces was measured in the range of 60-150 mm, increasing with the increased contact angle or increased heat flux (evaporating rate) and also with the decreased thermal conductivity of the heater material. The data suggest the conjugate heat transfer nature of the evaporating liquid film dynamics at higher heat fluxes of interest to boiling and burnout. In the case of hexane on the aged titanium surface with contact angle of ~3o, the liquid film is found resilient to rupture, with film oscillations at relatively large amplitude ensuing as the averaged film thickness decreases below 15 µm. To interpret our experimental findings on liquid film evolution and its critical thickness at rupture, a theoretical analysis is also performed to analyze the dynamics of liquid films evaporating on heater surfaces. While the influences of liquid properties, heat flux, and thermal conductivity of heater surface are captured by the simulation of the lubrication theory, influence of the wettability is considered via a minimum free energy criterion. The thinning processes of the liquid films are generally captured by the simulation of the lubrication theory. For the case with ideally uniform heat flux over the heater surface, the instability of the liquid film occurs at the thickness level of tens micro meters, while for the case of non-uniform heating, the critical thicknesses for the film rupture are closer to  the experimental data but still underestimated by the lubrication theory simulation. By introducing the minimum free energy criterion to considering the influence of surface wettability, the obtained critical thicknesses have a good agreement with the experimental ones for both titanium and copper surfaces, with a maximum deviation less than ±10%. The simulations also explain why the critical thickness on a copper surface is thinner than that on a titanium surface. It is because the good thermal conductivity of copper surface leads to uniform temperature distribution on the heat surface, which is responsible for the resilience of the liquid film to rupture. A silicon wafer with an artificial cavity fabricated by Micro Electronic Mechanical System (MEMS) technology was used as a heater to investigate the dynamics of a single bubble in both a thick and thin liquid layer under low heat flux (&lt;60 kW/m2). The maximum departure diameter of an isolated bubble in a thick liquid film was measured to be 3.2 mm which is well predicted by the Fritz equation. However, in a thin liquid layer with its thickness less than the bubble departure diameter, the bubble was stuck on the heater surface with a dry spot beneath. A threshold thickness of the liquid film which enables the dry spot rewettable was obtained, and its value linearly increases with increasing heat flux. In addition, another test section was designed to achieve a constant liquid film flow on a titanium nano-heater surface which helps to successfully carry boiling in the liquid film from low heat flux until CHF. Again, the confocal optical sensor was employed to measure the dynamics of the liquid film on the heater surface under varied heat flux conditions.  A statistical analysis of the measured thickness signals that emerge in a certain period indicates three distinct liquid film thickness ranges: 0~50 µm as microlayer, 50~500 µm as macrolayer, 500~2500 µm as bulk layer. With increasing heat flux, the bulk layer disappears, and then the macrolayer gradually decreases to ~105 µm, beyond which instability of the liquid film may lose its integrity and CHF occurs. In addition, the high-speed camera was applied to directly visualize and record the bubbles dynamics and liquid film evolution. Dry spots were observed under some bubbles occasionally from 313 kW/m2 until CHF with the maximum occupation fraction within 5%.  A dry spot was rewetted either by liquid receding after the rupture of a bubble or by the liquid spreading from bubbles’ growth in the vicinity. This implies that the bubbles’ behavior (growth and rupture) and their interactions in particular are of paramount importance to the integrity of liquid film under nucleate boiling regime. / QC 20111205 / VR-2005-5729, MSWI