Water quality of a stream or river is influenced by the surrounding landscape and vegetation. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) is commonly used to characterize landcover and vegetation density. Benthic macroinvertebrates are ubiquitous in freshwater streams and are excellent indicators of the quality of freshwater habitats. Data from one NDVI remote sensing flight and one macroinvertebrate sampling event for eight wadeable stream study sites in the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) were acquired. Proportions of high, moderate, and sparse vegetation were calculated for each stream watershed using ArcGIS. Functional feeding groups and tolerance values were assigned to macroinvertebrate taxa. The Fourth-corner and RLQ methods of analysis, available in the ade4 package for R software, were used to evaluate the relationships of macroinvertebrate traits with environmental variables. Hypothesis testing using Model 6 in the ade4 package resulted in p-values of 0.066 and 0.057 for global (overall) significance. Mean NDVI values of moderately vegetated areas and proportion of sparse vegetation were found to be significant to percent shredders at alpha ≤ 0.05. Results of these methods of analysis, when combined with traditional macroinvertebrate sampling metrics, show that NDVI can be a useful, additional tool to characterize a watershed and its effects on macroinvertebrate community composition and structure.

Das IceCube Neutrinoteleskop hat im Jahr 2013 erstmals einen isotropen, quasi-diffusen astrophysikalischen Neutrinoflusses detektiert. Dieser Fluss kann jedoch bisher keiner astrophysikalischen Quellklasse zugeordnet werden. Um nach kurzlebigen Neutrinoquellen zu suchen, wurde 2008 das optische und Röntgen-Nachfolgebeobachtungsprogramm des IceCube Detektors eingerichtet. Es sucht nach zwei oder mehr Neutrinoereignissen, die von einer Punkquelle stammen könnten und innerhalb von 100s detektiert werden. Ein solches Signal wird unter anderem von langen oder kurzen Gammastrahlungsblitzen (GRBs) erwartet oder von verwandten Objekten wie leuchtschwachen GRBs oder Supernovae mit relativistischen Jets. Die Alarmraten des Nachfolgebeobachtungsprogramms sind jedoch niedrig und bieten bisher keine Hinweise für die Existenz von kurzlebigen Neutrinoquellen. Das Nachfolgebeobachungsprogramm hat bisher nur ein einziges Neutrinotriplet detektiert, das der Auslöser für eine umfassende Beobachtungskampagne war. In den optischen, Röntgen- und Gammastrahlungsbeobachtungen wurde keine wahrscheinliche Neutrinoquelle identifiziert und eine Supernova oder ein heller GRB können ausgeschlossen werden. Das Neutrinotriplet kann entweder eine zufällige Koinzidenz von Untergrundereignissen sein (alle 13.7 Jahre erwartet) oder es kann von einer leuchtschwachen oder besonders schnell verblassenden Quelle stammen. Die niedrige Rate von Neutrinomultipletts stellt außerdem eine obere Schranke auf die Helligkeit von kurzlebigen Neutrinoquellen dar. Seltene Quellen mit lokalen Raten von < 3e-8 – 10e-5 Mpc^-3 Jahr^-1 können nicht den gesammten Fluss erzeugen, ohne die detektierte Anzahl Multipletts zu überschreiten. Der Fluss von GRBs ist dadurch auf 5-30% des astrophysikalischen Flusses beschränkt. Falls 1% aller Kernkollaps-Supernovae einen Jet besitzen, der auf die Erde zeigt, so können sie 40-100% des Flusses erzeugen und ihre durchschnittliche Neutrinohelligkeit ist <3e51erg. / The IceCube neutrino observatory first detected and isotropic, quasi-diffuse astrophysical neutrino flux in 2013. However, this flux can so far not be associated with an astrophysical source class. To search for short-lived neutrino sources, the optical and X-ray follow-up program was established in 2008. It searches for two or more neutrino events that might origin from a point source and are detected within 100s. Such a signal is expected from long or short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) or from related objects like low-luminosity GRBs or supernovae with choked jets. The alert rates of the follow-up program are however low, such that they do not provide evidence for the existence of short-lived neutrino sources. So far the follow-up program has only detected a one neutrino triplet, which triggered an extensive follow-up campaign. No likely neutrino source was detected in the collected optical, X-ray and gamma-ray observations and the presence of a supernova or a bright GRB can be excluded. The neutrino triplet can either be a chance coincidence of background events (expected every 13.7 years) or is can originate from a faint or quickly fading astrophysical source. The low rate of neutrino multiplets moreover provides an upper limit on the luminosity of short-lived neutrino sources. Rare sources with local rates of < 3e-8 – 10e-5 Mpc^-3 yr^-1 cannot produce the complete fluc without producing too many neutrino multiplets. This limits the contribution of GRBs to 5-30% of the astrophysical flux. If 1% of all core-collapse supernovae have a jet that is pointed at Earth, they can emit up to 40-100% of the flux and their average neutrino luminosity is <3e51erg.

Natural cycles of environmental variability and long-term deoxygenation in the ocean impose oxygen deficiency (hypoxia) on marine communities. My research exploits a naturally occurring hypoxia cycle in Saanich Inlet, British Columbia, Canada where I combined spatial surveys with remotely operated vehicles, ecological time-series from the subsea cabled observatory VENUS, and lab-based respirometry experiments to examine the influence of seasonally variable oxygen conditions on epibenthic communities. In situ oxygen thresholds established for dozens of fish and invertebrate species in this system show they naturally occur in lower oxygen levels than what general lethal and sublethal thresholds would predict. Expansion of hypoxic waters induced a loss of community structure which was previously characterized by disjunct distributions among species. Communities in variable hypoxia also have scale-dependent structure across a range of time scales but are primarily synchronized to a seasonal oscillation between two phases. Time-series revealed timing of diurnal movement in the slender sole Lyopsetta exilis and reproductive behavior of squat lobster Munida quadrispina in the hypoxia cycle. Hypoxia-induced mortality of sessile species slowed the rate of community recovery after deoxygenation. The 10-year oxygen time-series from VENUS, revealed a significant increase in the annual low-oxygen period in Saanich Inlet and that deoxygenation has occurred in this system since 2006. Differences in the critical oxygen thresholds (O2crit) and standard metabolic rates of key species (spot prawn Pandalus platyceros, slender sole, and squat lobster) determined the lowest in situ oxygen at which populations occurred and explained disproportionate shifts in distributions and community respiration. Finally, a meta-analysis on global O2crit reported for crustaceans showed that hypoxia tolerance differs among major ocean basins. Long-term trends of deoxygenation suggest a future regime shift may occur when the duration at which a system remains below critical oxygen levels exceeds the time needed for communities to recover. Species-specific traits will determine the critical threshold and the nature of the community response in systems influenced by variable states of oxygen deficiency. However, oceanographic and evolutionary history provides context when determining the regional response of benthic communities influenced by rapidly changing environments. / Graduate / 0329 / 0416 / 0433 / jwfchu@gmail.com

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T14:18:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Giselle Silva Soares.pdf: 1118994 bytes, checksum: 3a42ec266b14008417ddbb9f61beaa44 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-05-18 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This research investigates the performance of social movements and their relationship with the democratization of Brazilian social life, considering the sociopolitical landscape of São Paulo city and as a hub for this research, the participation involving of social leaders in the Observatory of Citizens' Rights. The aim is to examine the social relations created between the social leaders and the training process that is established from such participation. The research refers to the main features of social policies in the areas of social assistance, child and adolescent, housing and health during the first democratic administrations of Sao Paulo city, after the dictatorial period, the line of action of social movements in the mentioned areas , the period from 2008 to 2009, beyond to present the perception of social leaders, enabling the participation on Observatory of Citizens' Rights as an experiment collectivized capable of generating a training process with relevant learning the realization of popular participation and strengthening the democracy in Brazilian society / O presente trabalho aborda a atuação dos movimentos sociais e sua relação com a redemocratização da vida social brasileira, tomando como eixo de análise o cenário sociopolítico da cidade de São Paulo e como eixo de investigação a participação de lideranças sociais no Observatório dos Direitos do Cidadão. Busca-se examinar as relações sociais constituídas entre as lideranças sociais, bem como o processo formativo que se estabelece a partir desta participação. A pesquisa desenvolvida faz referência às principais características das políticas sociais nas áreas da assistência social, criança e adolescente, habitação e saúde, durante as primeiras gestões democráticas da cidade de São Paulo, após o período ditatorial, e à linha de atuação dos movimentos sociais nas áreas referidas, no período de 2008 a 2009, além de apresentar a percepção das lideranças sociais. Tal contexto possibilitou identificar a participação no Observatório dos Direitos do Cidadão como uma experiência coletivizada, capaz de gerar um processo formativo com aprendizados relevantes à efetivação da participação popular e ao fortalecimento da democracia na sociedade brasileira

This diploma thesis focuses on a project of new building of Planetarium in Prostějov in Olomouc district. The project is in accordance eith official assignment and with contemporary Czech standards and legislation. Building is placed to biggest park of Prostějov, next to the centre of city on an empty plot owned by city. Object should serve to the people as a cultural centre. The building plan is irregullarly-sharped with maximum dimensions 47,6 x 26,6 m and has three floors. On the first floor is galery, literature store and cafe and on the second floor is projection room and observatory. Structural systém is skelet and walls from reiforced concrete. Foundations of the building are made of concrete strip foundation and reiforced concrete square footings and strip foundations. Ceilings are made of reiforced concrete panels. There are roofs made by steel cupolas. Unsound walls are made of porous fittings. All external walls and cupolas are insulated with mineral wool. Doors and windows have aluminium frame and triple glazing, inner doors are wooden. As result there’s structurally, operationally and aesthetically functional complex, that will be benefit for the city and its citizens, especially for their cultural life.

Masters of Science / Observations that push the boundaries have historically fuelled scientific breakthroughs, and these observations frequently involve phenomena that were previously unseen and unidentified. Data sets have increased in size and quality as modern technology advances at a record pace. Finding these elusive phenomena within these large data sets becomes a tougher challenge with each advancement made. Fortunately, machine learning techniques have proven to be extremely valuable in detecting outliers within data sets. Astronomaly is a framework that utilises machine learning techniques for anomaly detection in astronomy and incorporates active learning to provide target specific results. It is used here to evaluate whether machine learning techniques are suitable to detect anomalies within the optical astronomical data obtained from the Dark Energy Camera Legacy Survey. Using the machine learning algorithm isolation forest, Astronomaly is applied on subsets of the Dark Energy Camera Legacy Survey (DECaLS) data set. The pre-processing stage of Astronomaly had to be significantly extended to handle real survey data from DECaLS, with the changes made resulting in up to 10% more sources having their features extracted successfully. For the top 500 sources returned, 292 were ordinary sources, 86 artefacts and masked sources and 122 were interesting anomalous sources. A supplementary machine learning algorithm known as active learning enhances the identification probability of outliers in data sets by making it easier to identify target specific sources. The addition of active learning further increases the amount of interesting sources returned by almost 40%, with 273 ordinary sources, 56 artefacts and 171 interesting anomalous sources returned. Among the anomalies discovered are some merger events that have been successfully identified in known catalogues and several candidate merger events that have not yet been identified in the literature. The results indicate that machine learning, in combination with active learning, can be effective in detecting anomalies in actual data sets. The extensions integrated into Astronomaly pave the way for its application on future surveys like the Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time.

Radio astronomy is the science of observing the heavens at radio frequencies, from a few kHz to approximately 300 GHz. In recent years, radio astronomy has faced a growing interference problem as radio frequency (RF) bandwidth has become an increasingly scarce commodity. A programmable real-time DSP least-mean-square interference canceller was developed and demonstrated as a successful method of excising satellite down-link signals from both an experimental platform at BYU, and the Green Bank Telescope at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in West Virginia. A performance analysis of this cancellation system in the radio astronomy radio frequency interference (RFI) mitigation regime constitutes the main contribution of this thesis. The real-time BYU test platform consists of small radio telescopes, low noise RF receivers, and a state-of-the-art DSP platform. This programmable real-time radio astronomy RFI mitigation tool is the first of its kind. Basic tools needed for radio astronomy observations and the analysis and implementation of interference mitigation algorithms were also implemented in the DSP platform, including a power spectral density estimator, a beamformer, and an array signal correlator.

The European Commission's long-standing strategy to achieve climate neutrality by 2050 has rekindled enthusiasm for hydrogen as a key vector that could reduce emissions. The stakeholders in the European energy system have their full attention focused on this vector. Vätgas Sweden, as a market player together with other organizations, seeks through this research to understand the current outlook for the low-carbon hydrogen market in the countries of the Baltic Sea region and Ukraine, which would help to penetrate and strengthen economic and political ties within the European Union. I present insights based on information from 2022 and estimates of future hydrogen production and demand through 2035 within the geographic scope along with interview results from follow-up sessions with project member organizations. This enabled the identification of barriers and drivers for viable business development. The comprehensive global review of hydrogen projects up to May 2024 considered data on project phasing, hydrogen production technology, demand and installed production capacity through harmonized modelling and statistical inference. The analysis explores the main evidence on production technologies and methods of handling blue and green hydrogen to meet the Baltic Sea region's decarbonization targets, examining the potential for trade. I highlight the overlapping barriers and drivers in the hydrogen market of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Sweden and Ukraine. The considered analysis adds a more realistic estimation of hydrogen forecasts by showing a better picture of the context in the Baltic Sea region. Vätgas Sweden plans a series of projects and studies analysing European trends in low-carbon hydrogen production to provide stakeholders, specialists and scientists around the world with the current level of knowledge on the essential barriers and drivers in the period of its industrial emergence. / Europeiska kommissionens mångåriga strategi för att uppnå klimatneutralitet till 2050 har återuppväckt entusiasmen för väte som en nyckelvektor som kan minska utsläppen. Intressenterna i det europeiska energisystemet har sin fulla uppmärksamhet fokuserad på denna vektor. Vätgas Sverige, som marknadsaktör tillsammans med andra organisationer, söker genom denna forskning förstå de nuvarande utsikterna för vätgasmarknaden med låga koldioxidutsläpp i länderna i Östersjöregionen och Ukraina, vilket skulle bidra till att penetrera och stärka ekonomiska och politiska band inom Europeiska unionen. Jag presenterar insikter baserade på information från 2022 och uppskattningar av framtida väteproduktion och efterfrågan fram till 2035 inom det geografiska området tillsammans med intervjuresultat från uppföljningssessioner med projektmedlemsorganisationer. Detta gjorde det möjligt att identifiera hinder och drivkrafter för livskraftig affärsutveckling. Den omfattande globala översynen av väteprojekt fram till maj 2024 tog hänsyn till data om projektfas, väteproduktionsteknik, efterfrågan och installerad produktionskapacitet genom harmoniserad modellering och statistisk slutledning. Analysen undersöker de viktigaste bevisen på produktionsteknologier och metoder för att hantera blått och grönt väte för att uppfylla Östersjöregionens avkolningsmål, och undersöker potentialen för handel. Jag lyfter fram de överlappande barriärerna och drivkrafterna på vätgasmarknaden i Danmark, Estland, Finland, Tyskland, Litauen, Lettland, Polen, Sverige och Ukraina. Den övervägda analysen lägger till en mer realistisk uppskattning av väteprognoser genom att visa en bättre bild av sammanhanget i Östersjöregionen. Vätgas Sverige planerar en serie projekt och studier som analyserar europeiska trender inom vätgasproduktion med låga koldioxidutsläpp för att förse intressenter, specialister och forskare runt om i världen med den nuvarande kunskapsnivån om de väsentliga barriärerna och drivkrafterna under den industriella framväxtperioden. / La estrategia de larga data de la Comisión Europea para lograr la neutralidad climática para 2050 ha reavivado el entusiasmo por el hidrógeno como un vector clave que podría reducir las emisiones. Los actores del sistema energético europeo tienen toda su atención centrada en este vector. Vätgas Suecia, como actor del mercado junto con otras organizaciones, busca a través de esta investigación comprender las perspectivas actuales del mercado del hidrógeno bajo en carbono en los países de la región del Mar Báltico y Ucrania, lo que ayudaría a penetrar y fortalecer los lazos económicos y políticos dentro de la Unión Europea. Presento ideas basadas en información de 2022 y estimaciones de la producción y demanda futura de hidrógeno hasta 2035 dentro del alcance geográfico junto con los resultados de entrevistas de sesiones de seguimiento con organizaciones miembros del proyecto. Esto permitió identificar barreras e impulsores para el desarrollo empresarial viable. La revisión global integral de los proyectos de hidrógeno hasta mayo de 2024 consideró datos sobre las fases de los proyectos, la tecnología de producción de hidrógeno, la demanda y la capacidad de producción instalada a través de modelos armonizados e inferencia estadística. El análisis explora la evidencia principal sobre las tecnologías de producción y los métodos de manejo del hidrógeno azul y verde para cumplir los objetivos de descarbonización de la región del Mar Báltico, examinando el potencial para el comercio. Destaco las barreras y los impulsores superpuestos en el mercado del hidrógeno de Dinamarca, Estonia, Finlandia, Alemania, Lituania, Letonia, Polonia, Suecia y Ucrania. El análisis considerado añade una estimación más realista de las previsiones de hidrógeno al mostrar una mejor imagen del contexto en la región del Mar Báltico. Vätgas Suecia planea una serie de proyectos y estudios que analizan las tendencias europeas en la producción de hidrógeno con bajas emisiones de carbono para proporcionar a las partes interesadas, especialistas y científicos de todo el mundo el nivel actual de conocimiento sobre las barreras e impulsores esenciales en el período de su surgimiento industrial. / BaSeH2, Baltic Sea Region Hydrogen Network

<p>This essay is about the origin, planning and establishment of the European Space Research Organisation's (ESRO) sounding rocket base Esrange outside Kiruna in Northern Sweden. Three main questions are examined. First I show there were not just scientific and technical but also political, economical as well as military reasons to build a European rocket base. Second, I scrutinize the reasons to choose Northern Sweden as the location for the rocket base. As it turns out, the main reasons were the favourable location of Northern Sweden within the aurora oval zone, the proximity of the Kiruna Geophysical Observatory, and the possibility to use a large, although not quite uninhabited, area where the launched rockets could crash. Finally, I examine the difficulty of talking about boundaries of various kinds, such as temporal, spatial and functional. The essay also provides a discussion on possible ways to continue research on this topic.</p>

This essay is about the origin, planning and establishment of the European Space Research Organisation's (ESRO) sounding rocket base Esrange outside Kiruna in Northern Sweden. Three main questions are examined. First I show there were not just scientific and technical but also political, economical as well as military reasons to build a European rocket base. Second, I scrutinize the reasons to choose Northern Sweden as the location for the rocket base. As it turns out, the main reasons were the favourable location of Northern Sweden within the aurora oval zone, the proximity of the Kiruna Geophysical Observatory, and the possibility to use a large, although not quite uninhabited, area where the launched rockets could crash. Finally, I examine the difficulty of talking about boundaries of various kinds, such as temporal, spatial and functional. The essay also provides a discussion on possible ways to continue research on this topic.