The eastward winds that form each winter in the Arctic stratosphere are intermittently disrupted by planetary-scale waves propagating up from the surface in events known as stratospheric sudden warmings. It is shown here that following roughly half of these sudden warmings, the winds take as long as three months to recover, during which time the polar stratosphere evolves in a robust and predictable fashion. These extended recoveries, termed here Polar-night Jet Oscillation (PJO) events, are relevant to understanding the response of the extratropical troposphere to forcings such as solar variability and climate change. They also represent a possible source of improvement in our ability to predict weather regimes at seasonal timescales. Four projects are reported on here. In the first, the approximation of stratospheric radiative cooling by a linear relaxation is tested and found to hold well enough to diagnose effective damping rates. In the polar night, the rates found are weaker than those typically assumed by simplified modelling studies of the extratropical stratosphere and troposphere. In the second, PJO events are identified and characterized in observations, reanalyses, and a comprehensive chemistry-climate model. Their observed behaviour is reproduced well in the model. Their duration correlates with the depth in the stratosphere to which the disruption descends, and is associated with the strong suppression of further planetary wave propagation into the vortex. In the third, the response of the zonal mean winds and temperatures to the eddy-driven torques that occur during PJO events is studied. The collapse of planetary waves following the initial warming permits radiative processes to dominate. The weak radiative damping rates diagnosed in the first project are required to capture the redistribution of angular momentum responsible for the circulation anomalies. In the final project, these damping rates are imposed in a simplified model of the coupled stratosphere and troposphere. The weaker damping is found to change the warmings generated by the model to be more PJO-like in character. Planetary waves in this case collapse following the warmings, confirming the dual role of the suppression of wave driving and extended radiative timescales in determining the behaviour of PJO events.

The eastward winds that form each winter in the Arctic stratosphere are intermittently disrupted by planetary-scale waves propagating up from the surface in events known as stratospheric sudden warmings. It is shown here that following roughly half of these sudden warmings, the winds take as long as three months to recover, during which time the polar stratosphere evolves in a robust and predictable fashion. These extended recoveries, termed here Polar-night Jet Oscillation (PJO) events, are relevant to understanding the response of the extratropical troposphere to forcings such as solar variability and climate change. They also represent a possible source of improvement in our ability to predict weather regimes at seasonal timescales. Four projects are reported on here. In the first, the approximation of stratospheric radiative cooling by a linear relaxation is tested and found to hold well enough to diagnose effective damping rates. In the polar night, the rates found are weaker than those typically assumed by simplified modelling studies of the extratropical stratosphere and troposphere. In the second, PJO events are identified and characterized in observations, reanalyses, and a comprehensive chemistry-climate model. Their observed behaviour is reproduced well in the model. Their duration correlates with the depth in the stratosphere to which the disruption descends, and is associated with the strong suppression of further planetary wave propagation into the vortex. In the third, the response of the zonal mean winds and temperatures to the eddy-driven torques that occur during PJO events is studied. The collapse of planetary waves following the initial warming permits radiative processes to dominate. The weak radiative damping rates diagnosed in the first project are required to capture the redistribution of angular momentum responsible for the circulation anomalies. In the final project, these damping rates are imposed in a simplified model of the coupled stratosphere and troposphere. The weaker damping is found to change the warmings generated by the model to be more PJO-like in character. Planetary waves in this case collapse following the warmings, confirming the dual role of the suppression of wave driving and extended radiative timescales in determining the behaviour of PJO events.

Increasing concerns over future anthropogenic effects on climate change as a result of increasing greenhouse gases generate concomitant efforts to better characterize recent climate in order to more accurately predict climate in the future. To this end, a multiproxy study of climate variability in western Ireland from lacustrine sediment was undertaken. The interpretation of paleoclimate records derived from lacustrine carbonate minerals is difficult without a good understanding of the mechanisms that generate variation in isotope values of modern surface waters. Variation in surface waters are ultimately incorporated into lacustrine sediment records conflated by temperature. Therefore, a study of the spatial distribution of ä¹⁸O and äD values of lake and river waters from 144 locations in Ireland has been conducted to provide insight into the behavior of lakes and rivers in Ireland, including source, recycling and loss through evapotranspiration. A 7.6 m sediment core was recovered from Lough Inchiquin that provides evidence for rapid and long-term climate change from the Late Glacial to the Holocene. This was determined using carbon and oxygen isotope analyses of lacustrine calcite as well as carbon from bulk organic sediment fractions. Several significant climate perturbations were identified in the ä¹⁸O_calcite record such as the Oldest Dryas, Younger Dryas, and the 8.2 ka cold event. A previously undescribed climate anomaly between 7,300 to 6,700 cal. yr B.P. characterized by low ä¹⁸O</span>_calcite values with high frequency variability. Variations in carbon isotopes of calcite and bulk organics from the Late Glacial to the Holocene are significant in magnitude (~12) and have similar trends that record temporal shifts in the relative contributions of carbon from the weathering of limestone versus the weathering of terrestrial organic matter. ä¹³C_calcite and ä¹³C_org suggest a rapid recovery of terrestrial vegetation following the Younger Dryas. Change in Ää¹³C_{calcite - org} documents a rapid increase in exogenous fluxes of carbon into the lake at ~9 ka.

Molecular capsules consist of two or more molecules that bind through either covalent or noncovalent interactions to form a structure with an internal void capable of containing guest molecules. These capsules can be used in catalysis/biocatalysis, in drug transport and delivery, in supramolecular arrays, and to stabilize reactive intermediates. Cavitands and calix[4]arenes are two types of macrocycles that have been used to form molecular capsules. Cavitands are used to form capsules called carceplexes, hemicarceplexes, and hemicarcerands through covalent bonds when two molecules are bridged together rim to rim. Calix[4]arene derivatives self-assemble reversibly through noncovalent interactions such as hydrogen bonding and ionic bonding to form capsules. Capsules formed form cavitands and calix[4]arenes have been shown to encapsulate a variety of guest molecules in nonpolar solvents. In order for the capsules to be used for biological applications, the capsules need to encapsulate guest molecules in water. There are only a few examples of capsules that encapsulate guests in polar solvents. Calix[4]arenes derivatives substituted with charged substituents on the upper rim and propyl groups on the lower rim were synthesized. These derivatives dimerize through ionic interactions in polar solvents forming both heterodimers and homodimers. These dimers will be used to encapsulate various guest molecules. Although the ionic propoxycalix[4]arene monomers are water-soluble, the heterodimers are not. This is due to the shielding of the charges upon assembly leaving only the propyl groups on the lower rim exposed to the polar solvent. To increase dimer solubility in water, calix[4]arene derivatives are being synthesized with hydroxy ethyl groups instead of the propyl groups on the lower rim. When the charged hydroxyethoxycalix[4]arene derivatives dimerize, the alcohols will be exposed to the polar solvent instead of the propyl groups increasing the water-solubility of the capsules.

In this thesis, rotation, scale and translation (RST) invariant automatic target recognition (ATR) for satellite imagery is presented. Template matching is used to realize the target recognition. However, unlike most of the studies of template matching in the literature, RST invariance is required in our problem, since most of the time we will have only a small number of templates of each target, while the targets to be recognized in the scenes will have various orientations, scaling and translations. RST invariance is studied in detail and implemented with some of the competing methods in the literature, such as Fourier-Mellin transform and bipectrum combined with log-polar mapping. Phase correlation and normalized cross-correlation are used as similarity metrics. Encountered drawbacks were overcome with additional operations and modifications of the algorithms. ATR using reconstruction of the target image with respect to the template, based on bispectrum, log-polar mapping and phase correlation outperformed the other methods and successful recognition was realized for various target types, especially for targets on relatively simpler backgrounds, i.e. containing little or no other objects.

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Die gestiegene Messgenauigkeit der Erdrotationsparameter ermöglicht inzwischen eine Berücksichtigung von Sekundäreffekten, wie Einflüssen hydrologischer Massenvariationen. Variationen der Erdrotation durch hydrologische Massenvariationen sind bisher weniger gut als atmosphärische und ozeanische Beiträge erforscht. Zur Interpretation, Analyse und Zuordnung von Signalen in den Erdrotationsparamtern wurden mit einem Landoberflächenschema und einem lateralen Abflussmodell langjährige hydrologische Simulationen unter Antrieb aus verschiedenen globalen Atmosphärenmodellen durchgeführt. Diese Simulationen erlaubten die Durchführung von Sensitivitätsstudien über die Abhängigkeit simulierter hydrologischer Beiträge zur Erdrotation von den atmosphärischen Antrieben und der Modellphysik. Alle relevanten hydrologischen Größen wurden auf Plausibilität mit Beobachtungsdaten oder anderen Simulationsergebnissen validiert. Neben dem Beitrag der vertikalen Wasserbilanz wurde auch der Beitrag des lateralen Wassertransportes auf die Erdrotation explizit untersucht. Erstmalig konnte der hydrologische Bewegungsterm quantifiziert werden. Die simulierten hydrologischen Drehimpulsfunktionen wurden schließlich im Kontext des globalen Wasserkreislaufes den beobachteten Erdrotationsparametern gegenübergestellt. Es ergab sich eine besonders gute Übereinstimmung für die hydrologische [chi2]-Komponente mit Residuen aus Beobachtungen und simulierten atmosphärischen und ozeanischen Variationen der Erdrotation. / The increasing accuracy of observation of the Earth's rotation allows the consideration of so called secondary effects like the influence of hydrological mass redistributions. Variations of the Earth's rotation due to hydrological influences are yet less investigated than atmospheric and oceanic contributions. In order to analyse, interprete and associate signals in the parameters of the Earth's rotation, longtime hydrologic simulations were performed by forcing a land-surface scheme and a lateral discharge model with data of various global atmospheric models. By these simulations, the dependency of simulated hydrologic contributions to the variations of the Earth's rotation on atmospheric forcing and on the model physics was studied. All relevant hydrologic quantities were validated against observed or modelled values to evaluate their plausibility. In addition to the contribution of the vertical water balance to the variations of the Earth's rotation also the contribution of lateral water transport was explicitely investigated. For the first time the hydrologic motion term was quantified. Eventually, the simulated hydrological angular momentum functions were compared in the context of the global water cycle against observed parameters of the Earth's rotation. The hydrological component of [chi2] did show a very good agreement with residuals of observations and simulated atmospheric and oceanic variations of the Earth's rotation.

Finite element analysis was implemented to evaluate the transverse shear modulus of a unidirectional glass/epoxy fiber-matrix composite based on pure shear displacement boundary conditions. Unit cells consisting of three-dimensional glass cylinders surrounded in square-cuboid epoxy matrices were modeled to represent "Representative Volume Element" (RVE) configurations in periodic and random-periodic square cell arrangements of variable size. Three RVEs were constructed and analyzed: A single unit cell, a 9-cell (3 x 3) array, and a 25-cell (5 x 5) array. Additionally, the unit cell was modeled to include an interphase. Three sets of cell arrangements were constructed and evaluated: a periodic square array, a transversely distributed random-periodic array, and a variable angularly aligned random-periodic array. Furthermore, scale and free-edge effects of the composites were studied by evaluating the shear modulus in incrementally increasing domains, as well as by isolating finite-sized domains called windows within the multiple-cell model, whereby the window is smaller than the array. Finite element software was subsequently utilized to create a three-dimensional mesh of the composite models studied. Each simulation consisted of exposing the respective domain to pure shear boundary conditions, whereby the model was subject to uniform transverse displacement along its boundary. Subsequent volumetric averaging resulted in computation of the apparent transverse shear modulus. The resulting numerically attained elastic shear modulus was then evaluated and compared to known predictive models in literature. It was shown that that the transverse random arrangement as well the random angular alignment of fibers within the composite structure had a marginal influence on the shear modulus. For random transverse distributions, a deviation in modulus of +1.5% was observed for the 25-cell array as compared to a periodic array of equal size. Similarly, a deviation of +0.3% was predicted for 25-cell arrays subject to random angular fiber misalignments up to ±0.143°, as compared 25-cell periodic arrays. Furthermore, increasing the composite medium by systematic, incremental augmentation model domains was shown to significantly lower the shear modulus in a convergent manner as G23 values dropped 33.5% from the nonhomogeneous single cell to the 9-cell model, and 2.6% from the same 9-cell to the 25-cell model, while observing the effects of a mesoscale window displayed little variance in modulus value as compared to the larger RVE from which the window was isolated from. Lastly, the predictive potential of the model developed by Sutcu for composites with interphases, and other commonly employed models for predicting the transverse shear modulus of unidirectional composites was also evaluated. Numerical results of nonhomogeneous interphase models for both periodic and random-periodic 25-cell arrays were found to be in excellent agreement with Sutcu's approximation. The shear modulus of the 25-cell, nonhomogeneous interphase model was found to lie within 3.5% of Sutcu's prediction. Volume averages for periodic arrays with no interphase were observed to lie in close proximity to Halpin-Tsai's model, displaying a variation of 7% for a 25-cell, single fiber model.

International Polar Year 2007-2008 renewed interest in and funding for circumpolar research. One unique element of this International Polar Year was the focus on education and outreach initiatives. This study explores outreach stakeholders’ perspectives on conducting science outreach with northern Canadian schools. A total of sixty semi-structured interviews were conducted with northern researchers, residents and educators to determine culturally appropriate and pedagogically suitable methods for educational outreach initiatives in the Canadian north. I examined northern resident and educator experiences with integrating Indigenous and Western ways of knowing, identified factors supporting educational outreach initiatives, and provided recommendations on how to strengthen educational outreach partnerships. Results show that institutional barriers discourage researchers from participating in educational outreach. Northern residents and educators viewed integrative science as an effective method to engage students in Indigenous and Western science, and to encourage collaborative educational outreach partnerships amongst outreach stakeholders.

Research has shown that trust is essential to the functioning of co-management. This is especially true in the Territory of Nunavut where wildlife is an integral part of the lifestyle and culture of Nunavummiut (the people inhabiting Nunavut). In Nunavut, wildlife is managed by a co-management board situated in between federal, territorial, regional, and community governments and organizations. This research explores Inuit attitudes and trust in managing wildlife as part of a co-management system in the Kivalliq Region of Nunavut, Canada. Interviews were conducted in the communities of Igluligaarjuk (Chesterfield Inlet), Tikirarjauq (Whale Cove), and Qamani’tuaq (Baker Lake). Even now with the 1993 settlement of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement (NLCA) and the implementation of a public government in 1999, there is documented evidence that beneficiaries of the NLCA are dissatisfied with wildlife management decisions and do not trust the governing process of co-management. In this study, participants specifically indicated dissatisfaction with regulations and outcomes of current polar bear co-management. It has been predicted that conflicts specific to polar bear management could lead to regulations being ignored or even defied and endanger the entire system of wildlife co-management. Results from this research indicate that dissatisfaction over decisions involving polar bears is dominantly compartmentalized towards the outcomes of polar bear management and does not necessarily apply to the broader system of wildlife co-management. Therefore, in the Kivalliq Region, predicted impacts of dissatisfaction over polar bear co-management may apply directly to the polar bear co-management system but likely not the wildlife co-management system generally. This study provides a forum where Inuit trust in the wildlife co-management system is documented and I hope it will contribute to an increased understanding of Inuit goals in wildlife management and to the discourses on co-management in Nunavut.