Landscapes are comprised of multiple ecosystems shaped by disturbances varying in severity and source. Moderate disturbance from weather, pathogens, insects, and age-related senescence, in contrast to severe disturbances that fell trees, may increase standing woody debris and alter the contribution of coarse woody debris (CWD) to total ecosystem respiration (RE). However, woody debris dynamics are rarely examined following moderate disturbances that substantially increase standing dead wood stocks. We used an experimental manipulation of moderate disturbance in an upper Great Lakes forest to: 1) examine decadal changes in CWD stocks through a moderate disturbance; 2) quantify in situ CWD respiration during different stages of decay for downed and standing woody debris and; 3) estimate the annual contribution of CWD respiration to the ecosystem C balance through comparison with RE and net ecosystem production (NEP). We found that the standing dead wood mass of 24.5 Mg C ha-1 was an order of magnitude greater than downed woody debris stocks and a large source of ecosystem C flux six years following disturbance. Instantaneous in situ respiration rates from standing and downed woody debris in the earliest stages of decay were not significantly different from one another. Independently derived estimates of ecosystem CWD respiration of 1.1to 2.1 Mg C ha-1 yr-1 six years following disturbance were comparable in magnitude to NEP and 12.5 % to 23.8 % of RE, representing a substantial increase relative to pre-disturbance levels. Ecosystem respiration and NEP were stable following moderate disturbance even though ecosystem CWD respiration increased substantially, suggesting a reduction in the respiratory C contribution from other sources. We conclude that CWD is an essential component of the ecosystem C balance following a moderate forest disturbance.

This paper investigates the social standing of båtsmän – Swedish navy seamen in the allotment system – who participated in the naval war against Russia in 1788–1790. The study examines the socioeconomic attainment and the social mobility among båtsmän recruited from two towns, Söderhamn and Hudiksvall. The main purpose of the study is to compare the image of the båtsmän presented by both representatives of the town council in Gävle (magistraten) and admiral Carl August Ehrenswärd, with the actual social position of the båtsmän from Söderhamn and Hudiksvall during the war 1788–1790. A number of sources are used. Achival records from the navy and the parishes are used to track the båtsmän and define their civilian social position before and after the war. The method is a demographic study based on family reconstruction. A comparison of the social structure of the båtsmän and the social structure of their parent generation is conducted, in order to discover any social mobility. A comparison between the inborn townsmen, the migrators born in the county, and the migrators born outside the county limit, is also conducted to detect any relationship between migration and social position. To answer the overarching question, why båtsmän are described as peasants and vagabonds by authorities, archival records from the parishes, the Office of the Chancellor of Justice, and the Krigskollegiet are used. The method is close reading of the documents, with a theoretical perspective based on Foucault’s theories of power and discipline The results of the study show a mismatch between the image presented by the authorities, and the social structure among the båtsmän. The majority of the 45 båtsmän had employment in the towns before they where enrolled. One third of the båtsmän where sailors before the war, a fact not noted in the General munster roll for 1788. There where also a number of manual workers and craftsmen, as well as some members of the bourgeoisie, who were enrolled. In this study, the social mobility between the båtsmän and the prior generation is strong. Half of a cohort of 35 båtsmän had a lower social position in comparison to their fathers, at the time of the war. Peasant’s sons with temporary jobs in towns were a clear example of social decline. The båtsmän that survived the war did not improve their occupational position when they returned to their civilian lives. Participating in the great victory at sea – the battle of Svensksund – 1790 did not benefit the båtsmän's occupational position. The image of the båtsmän as peasants and vagrants is based on the words of the navy and the bourgoise that has survived in the archives. It is the words of those in power, using the label of vagrancy as a tool to solve problems. This image represents a power structure and the struggle for power.

Thesis advisor: Michael J. Naughton / Surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) are hybridized quasiparticles of photons and electron density waves. They are confined to propagate along metal-dielectric interfaces, and decay exponentially along the direction perpendicular to the interfaces. In the past two decades, SPPs have drawn intensive attention and undergone rapid development due to their potential for application in a vast range of fields, including but not limited to subwavelength imaging, biochemical/biomedical sensing, enhanced light trapping for solar cells, and plasmonic logic gates. These applications utilize the following intrinsic properties of SPPs: (1) the wavelength of SPPs is shorter (and can be much shorter) than that of free photons with the same frequency; (2) the local electric field intensity associated with SPPs can be orders of magnitude larger than that of free photons; and (3) SPPs are bound to metal surfaces, and are thus easily modulated by the geometry of those surfaces. Here, we present studies on SPPs along metal surfaces with novel structures, including the following: (1) SPP standing waves formed along circular metal surfaces that lead to a "plasmonic halo" effect; (2) directional reflectionless conversion between free photons and SPPs in asymmetric metal-insulator-metal arrays; and (3) broadband absorbance enhancement of embedded metallic nanopatterns in a photovoltaic absorber layer. These works may prove useful for new schemes for SPP generation, plasmon-photon modulation, ultrasensitive dielectric/bio sensing, and high efficiency thin film solar cells. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Physics.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T20:22:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Leticia Zuccolo Paschoal da Costa.pdf: 1066014 bytes, checksum: a51dd807bd3e5922df83eafaea5d29f0 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-10-25 / The study of association standing to class jurisdiction and adjudication starts from the Federal Constitution and reaches several federal statutes that rule this matter. Starts, also, from the acknowledgment that class jurisdiction is necessary in order to ameliorate access to justice. Unequivocally, Brazilian law system is one of the most evolved on what concerns the creation of mechanisms to class jurisdiction and, as such, there are some specific rules about standing.However, due to the relevance of what has been developed in the American legal system about this issue, essentially from class actions and Rule 23, it is necessary to discuss exact questions about standing to sue and adequacy on what concerns, specifically, to the necessity that an adequate representative of a class proves injury in fact to be so considered. Related to the Brazilian legal system, it is necessary to keep in mind that national legislator determines who have standing to class jurisdiction ope legis. Among them there are associations, from which is required, in order for them to have standing: constitution one year prior to the class action filing before a court; authorization from their associates to the action; and, also, compatibility between the matter taken to court and objectives of the association. What is observed, nevertheless, is that national precedents give a broad interpretation to these requisites, in order to, correctly, avoid barriers to access to justice. Finally, it is worth mentioning that there are several practical questions about association standing in class actions, nonetheless what is effectively relevant about this issue is the impossibility to create barriers to this standing that, clearly, only makes concrete the corollary of access to justice, so important to a Democratic State of Law / O estudo da legitimidade das entidades associativas para a tutela jurisdicional coletiva parte da Constituição Federal e passa pelas diversas leis federais que tratam da matéria. Parte, ainda, da constatação de que a concretização da tutela coletiva é necessária para aprimorar o acesso à justiça. Inegavelmente, o ordenamento jurídico brasileiro é um dos mais evoluídos no que tange à criação de mecanismos para a tutela coletiva e, como tal, positivaram-se questões específicas em relação à legitimidade para agir. No entanto, em razão da importância do que se desenvolveu no sistema norte-americano em matéria de tutela coletiva, fundamentalmente a partir das class actions e da Rule 23, é necessário elucidar questões específicas sobre o standing to sue e sobre a adequacy, no que tange, especificamente, à necessidade de que o legitimado prove que sofreu dano diretamente para que seja considerado adequado representante da classe. Sobre o sistema brasileiro, é necessário lembrar que o legislador nacional determina ope legis quais são as pessoas legitimadas para a tutela jurisdicional coletiva. Dentre elas encontram-se as entidades associativas, das quais se exige, para que estejam legitimadas: sua constituição com um ano de antecedência em relação à data de exercício desta tutela perante o Judiciário; a autorização de seus associados para o litígio; e, ainda, a compatibilidade entre o objeto tutelado e as finalidades para as quais tenha sido criada. O que se observa, todavia, é que a jurisprudência nacional dá interpretação ampliativa a estes requisitos, com a finalidade de, corretamente, não criar empecilhos ao acesso à justiça. Por fim, ressalte-se que são diversas as questões práticas que se colocam no que tange à legitimidade das entidades associativas para a tutela coletiva, mas o que é efetivamente relevante sobre o tema é a impossibilidade de se criarem barreiras a esta legitimidade que, claramente, apenas torna concreto o corolário do acesso à justiça, tão importante a um Estado Democrático de Direito

Human-structure interaction is a relatively new topic that is not fully understood. There have been several human whole-body models from the research in body biomechanics and structural dynamics, which have been used in the study of human-structure interaction. It is not clear which body model is the most appropriate one. An interactive human body model was derived from a human-structure interaction model where a continuous standing human body was placed on a single degree-of-freedom (SDOF) structure. However, the dynamic parameters of the human body model cannot be determined accurately. In this thesis, a series of human-structure interaction experiments are conducted, which also leads to the identification of the dynamic parameters of the interactive body model and the assessment of the commonly used human body models. Two groups of 18 and 38 individual subjects participated in human-structure interaction experiment on a SDOF test rig with two different configurations. Two sweeping harmonic forces (6.6 and 13.2 N) were applied to the bare and occupied rigs. The repeatability of the tests was checked and confirmed. These experiments showed clearly two resonance frequencies of the human-structure system. It was also demonstrated that the dynamic parameters of the standing human body were independent of the test rig setup and of the subjects' gender. On the other hand, the vibration magnitude and the body masses significantly influenced the natural frequencies but not the damping ratios of the standing subjects. The fundamental natural frequency and damping ratio of the standing human body were about 6.6 Hz and 22% respectively. The identified dynamic parameters of the standing body can then be used to predict the responses of an occupied structure and the human body. Another group of 74 subjects were tested twice, with and without wearing shoes, which examined the effect of footwear on the dynamic parameters of the standing human body and on the dynamic response of the occupied rig. Only one sweeping harmonic force (13.2 N) was applied to the test rig. This study demonstrated that footwear significantly affected the dynamic parameters of the standing human body. The natural frequency and damping ratio of the standing body with bare feet are higher than those with footwear. When the two genders have the same body mass index (BMI), the maximum responses of the occupied rig are almost identical. When they have the same weight, the response of the rig occupied by the males was higher at the first resonance peak. The accelerations throughout the heights of two subjects were measured, which allowed a comparison between the predicted human whole-body acceleration and the measurements at different positions of the standing human bodies. The predicted frequency response functions (FRFs) had the same pattern as the measured ones and were larger than the measured responses at the head, neck and shoulders. The effects of the mass ratio of a crowd to a SDOF structure and the natural frequency of the structure on the human-structure interaction were examined. It was demonstrated that, for a light crowd, such as seen on office floors, the occupied structure would respond less than the bare structure, where the human body acts like a tuned-mass-damper, while the body responses were higher than that of the bare structure. For a larger crowd, such as seen on grandstands, the responses of the occupied structure and the human body were both smaller than that of the bare structure although the body response was larger than that of the occupied structure. A comparison between the human-structure interaction model used in this study and three other models was conducted. The dynamic parameters of the models were identified from the above experiments, in which the natural frequencies of the body for the four models were similar. It showed that the predicted responses of the occupied structure were similar based on the four models. However, there were obvious differences in the predicted body responses. A detailed comparison between the proposed model, Griffin's models and the available measurements showed that the damping ratios used in Griffin's models were too high, which prevents the two resonance frequencies from being observed. In addition, the predicted human body response calculated by the proposed model is much higher than that from Griffin's models.

One of the major challenges of engineering is finding the proper balance between economical and safe. Currently engineers at Nucor Corporation have ignored the additional lateral bracing provided by standing seam roofing systems to joists because of the lack of methods available to quantify the amount of bracing provided. Based on the results of testing performed herein, this bracing is significant, potentially resulting in excessively conservative designs and unnecessary costs. This project performed 26 tests with Vulcraft joists in a pressure box to investigate the effects of how many variables influence the lateral bracing provided to joists from standing seam roofing systems, including the variables joist length, panel gauge, clip height, thermal block presence, insulation thickness, and top chord size. Two methods were developed to account for this additional bracing: finite element computer modeling and an application of the Rayleigh-Ritz method called the Column-on-Elastic-Foundation Method. Variables influencing the pressure at failure, namely chord size and deck gauge, were those with the greatest effect on additional lateral bracing provided from standing seam roof systems. It was determined that higher roof stiffness values and higher failure pressures yield shorter effective lengths.