Röjningsbehovet i Sverige är stort och de flesta skogliga myndigheter och organisationer är överens om att röjningsaktiviteten bör öka. Denna studie syftar till att undersöka drivkrafter och hinder hos olika kategorier av privata skogsägare och om detta kan användas av skogsföretag för att öka röjningsaktiviteten genom att anpassa kommunikationen. Studien har genomförts i samarbete med Södra och är gjord i tre steg; webbenkät, kategorisering och intervjuer. Resultaten visar att drivkrafterna ekonomi, fritid och naturupplevelsen samt tillfredställelse/stolthet dominerar i båda kategorierna. Hinderna som dominerar är tid och prioriteringar samt yttre påverkningar. Slutsaten är att drivkrafter och hinder inte skiljer sig nämnvärt mellan olika kategorier av skogsägare och att det inte finns någon anledning att anpassa kommunikationen.

<div>Model-based clustering, with its flexibility and solid statistical foundations, is an important tool for unsupervised learning, and has numerous applications in a variety of fields. This dissertation focuses on nonparametric Bayesian approaches to model-based clustering under structural restrictions. These are additional constraints on the model that embody prior knowledge, either to regularize the model structure to encourage interpretability and parsimony or to encourage statistical sharing through underlying tree or network structure.</div><div><br></div><div>The first part in the dissertation focuses on the most commonly used model-based clustering models, mixture models. Current approaches typically model the parameters of the mixture components as independent variables, which can lead to overfitting that produces poorly separated clusters, and can also be sensitive to model misspecification. To address this problem, we propose a novel Bayesian mixture model with the structural restriction being that the clusters repel each other.The repulsion is induced by the generalized Matérn type-III repulsive point process. We derive an efficient Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm for posterior inference, and demonstrate its utility on a number of synthetic and real-world problems. <br></div><div><br></div><div>The second part of the dissertation focuses on clustering populations with a hierarchical dependency structure that can be described by a tree. A classic example of such problems, which is also the focus of our work, is the phylogenetic tree with nodes often representing biological species. The structure of this problem refers to the hierarchical structure of the populations. Clustering of the populations in this problem is equivalent to identify branches in the tree where the populations at the parent and child node have significantly different distributions. We construct a nonparametric Bayesian model based on hierarchical Pitman-Yor and Poisson processes to exploit this, and develop an efficient particle MCMC algorithm to address this problem. We illustrate the efficacy of our proposed approach on both synthetic and real-world problems.</div>

Researchers now have unprecedented access to free Landsat data, enabling detailed monitoring of the Earth's land surface and vegetation.  There are gaps in the data, due in part to cloud cover. The gaps are aperiodic and localized, forcing any detailed multitemporal analysis based on Landsat data to compensate.   Harmonic regression approximates Landsat data for any point in time with minimal training images and reduced storage requirements.  In two study areas in North Carolina, USA, harmonic regression approaches were least as good at simulating missing data as STAR-FM for images from 2001.  Harmonic regression had an R^2"0.9 over three quarters of all pixels. It gave the highest R_Predicted^2 values on two thirds of the pixels.  Applying harmonic regression with the same number of harmonics to consecutive years yielded an improved fit, R^2"0.99 for most pixels.   We next demonstrate a change detection method based on exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) charts of harmonic residuals. In the process, a data-driven cloud filter is created, enabling use of partially clouded data.  The approach is shown capable of detecting thins and subtle forest degradations in Alabama, USA, considerably finer than the Landsat spatial resolution in an on-the-fly fashion, with new images easily incorporated into the algorithm.  EWMA detection accurately showed the location, timing, and magnitude of 85% of known harvests in the study area, verified by aerial imagery.   We use harmonic regression to improve the precision of dynamic forest parameter estimates, generating a robust time series of vegetation index values.  These values are classified into strata maps in Alabama, USA, depicting regions of similar growth potential.  These maps are applied to Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) plots, generating post-stratified estimates of static and dynamic forest parameters.  Improvements to efficiency for all parameters were such that a comparable random sample would require at least 20% more sampling units, with the improvement for the growth parameter requiring a 50% increase. These applications demonstrate the utility of harmonic regression for Landsat data.  They suggest further applications in environmental monitoring and improved estimation of landscape parameters, critical to improving large-scale models of ecosystems and climate effects. / Ph. D.

Une configuration en T-jonction a été étudiée pour sa simplicité en géométrie en comparant avec d’autres mélangeurs en industrie. Plus particulièrement, j’ai effectué des simulations numériques directes avec OpenFOAM des T-jonction convergent à section circulaire et rectangulaire. Les fluides Newtonien et non-Newtonien (modèle Bird-Carreau) ont été pris en compte. Dans un premier temps, j’ai comparé mes données avec le travail expérimental de Nguyen [1] sur le T-jonction circulaire en régime deflecting. J’arrive à valider la DNS avec les données expérimentales. L’organisation des structures cohérentes sont illustrées en régime laminaire et turbulent en Newtonien et en non-Newtonien. Dans un deuxième temps, j’ai simulé deux régimes (deflecting et impinging) dans un T-jonction rectangulaire en Newtonien et en non-Newtonien. J’ai montré l’existence de structures cohérentes (par example kidney vortex) qui servent de moteur au mélange du scalaire passif propre au non-Newtonien. L’efficacité de mélange est augmentée en régime impinging par rapport au régime deflecting. Le shifting du pic de turbulence est observé uniquement en régime impinging. / For the simplicity in geometry by comparing it with other mixers in the industry, flows in T-junction configuration have been studied. More specifically, Direct Numerical Simulations is carried out using OpenFOAM on a convergent T-junction configuration with circular and rectangular cross-section. Both Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids (Bird-Carreau model) are taken into account. Firstly, DNS data is compared to Nguyen’s experimental work on the circular T-junction at regime deflecting [1]. Good agreement between simlation and experiment is achieved. The organization of coherent structures is illustrated in laminar and turbulent for both Newtonian and non-Newtonian cases. Secondly, two flow regimes (deflecting and impinging) are simulated in a rectangular T-junction for the same Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids. The existence of non-Newtonian coherent structures (e.g. kidney vortex ) is shown. These structures are regarded as essential mixing mechanism of passive scalar mixing. The mixing efficiency is increased in regime impinging compared to regime deflecting. The shifting of the turbulence peak is only observed in regime impinging.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(工学) / 甲第19234号 / 工博第4069号 / 新制||工||1628(附属図書館) / 32233 / 京都大学大学院工学研究科分子工学専攻 / (主査)教授 渡辺 宏, 教授 古賀 毅, 教授 金谷 利治 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering) / Kyoto University / DFAM

Cyclura ricordii is an endemic iguana from Hispaniola and is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN. The main threats are predation by introduced mammals, habitat destruction and hunting. The present study focused on two nesting areas in Pedernales in the Dominican Republic. The hypothesis tested is that natal philopatry influences dispersal and nest site selection. Monitoring and sampling took place during 2012-2013. Polymorphic markers were used to evaluate whether natal philopatry limits dispersal at multiple spatial scales. Ripley’s K, revealed that nests were significantly clustered. Hierarchical AMOVA revealed that nest site aggregations did not explain a significant portion of genetic variation. However, Mantel’s tests revealed significant positive correlations between genetic and geographic distance. These results indicate that natal philopatry limits dispersal at a course spatial scale, but does not influence nest site selection at a fine spatial scale.

With a growing desire to generate structural characteristics of late-successional conifer forests, managers are commonly seeking an approach to increase structural heterogeneity in otherwise simple second-growth stands. This study examined understory response to experimental thinning on the Olympic Peninsula of Western Washington. Variable-density thinning within the Olympic Habitat Development Study was found to have significant effects on both the density of seedling recruitment as well as early growth of western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla (Raf.) Sarg.). In additional analysis, pre-commercial understory thinning, implemented by the Olympic National Forest, produced no observable acceleration in basal area growth. Results suggest that understory development is sensitive to previous management history as well as post-treatment stand structure. Better understanding the sources of variability in understory tree response to non-uniform thinning and understory density management will be principle in evaluating the efficacy of these treatments relative to traditional methods.

Maximum size-density relationships (MSDR) are used to quantify differences across sites in the number of trees of a given size and species that can be supported per hectare. These relationships are important to managers who are trying to maximize basal area and wood volume. In my study, I examined MSDR across Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi using US Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data. I determined the impact of species-specific, specific gravity, functional traits, and environmental factors on MSDR using a quantile regression approach. Overall, I found that climatic factors had the greatest influence on MSDR, and that species shade and drought tolerance were more influential than specific gravity across the southeastern US.

If following the advice not to harvest forest stands within 10 years after the stands have been fertilized, this may mean that stands that have been fertilized between the first and second thinning have time to grow out of the second thinning window. The purpose of the study was to investigate the duration of the growth effect for forest fertilization in thinned pine stands in southern Norrland. For the study, 20 thinned pine stands with two different site indices (SI), T22 and T28, were used. After fertilization, the highest annual ring growth was reached for both SI already after 2 years. Stands that had been fertilized had at most 58 % higher annual ring growth than the stands that had not been fertilized. Between the two SI, there were no significant differences in a comparison between the fertilized stands from the year of fertilization and 12 years after fertilization. Already 9 years after fertilization, the growth is smaller than it was before any measures had been taken. Which shows that the stands can be thinned earlier than 10 years without losing growth effect.

To confirm computer simulations and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis, benchtop experiments are needed with a fluid that mimics blood and its viscoelastic properties. Blood is challenging to use as a working fluid in a laboratory setting because of health and safety concerns. Therefore, a blood analogue is necessary to perform benchtop experiments. Viscosity is an important property of fluids for modeling and experiments. Blood is a shear thinning fluid, so it has a decreasing viscosity with higher shear rates. This project seeks to create a blood mimicking fluid for benchtop laboratory use. Numerous fluids with different combinations of water, glycerin, and xanthan gum were created to mimic the shear thinning property of blood at different hematocrit levels. Since the amount of xanthan gum is very small, an analytical balance was used. To mix the solution, an immersion blender and a heat circulator were used. The data were obtained from 10-90 torque percent, which is the range over which the rheometer is accurate, so the exact ranges of shear rate tested depended on the test fluid. The created solutions were compared to blood at the equivalent hematocrit and previously performed tests.The three different equivalent hematocrits all produced results similar to viscosities of blood. The results were similarly representative of blood at different equivalent viscosities for the 0.0075% xanthan gum and the 0.075% xanthan gum by weight. The solutions were able to mimic the shear thinning behavior of blood at different equivalent hematocrits. The fluids with 0.075% xanthan gum and 50% water and 50% glycerin is a better representative than the fluids with 0.075% xanthan gum and 60% water and 40% glycerin.