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With the increase in energy of the Large Hadron Collider to a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV for Run 2, events with dense environments, such as in the cores of high-energy jets, became a focus for new physics searches as well as measurements of the Standard Model. These environments are characterized by charged-particle separations of the order of the tracking detectors sensor granularity. Basic track quantities are compared between 3.2 fb$^{-1}$ of data collected by the ATLAS experiment and simulation of proton-proton collisions producing high-transverse-momentum jets at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The impact of charged-particle separations and multiplicities on the track reconstruction performance is discussed. The efficiency in the cores of jets with transverse momenta between 200 GeV and 1600 GeV is quantified using a novel, data-driven, method. The method uses the energy loss, dE/dx, to identify pixel clusters originating from two charged particles. Of the charged particles creating these clusters, the measured fraction that fail to be reconstructed is $0.061 \pm 0.006 \textrm{(stat.)} \pm 0.014 \textrm{(syst.)}$ and $0.093 \pm 0.017 \textrm{(stat.)}\pm 0.021 \textrm{(syst.)}$ for jet transverse momenta of 200-400 GeV and 1400-1600 GeV, respectively. The European physical journal / C 77(10), 673 (2017). doi:10.1140/epjc/s10052-017-5225-7 Published by Springer, Berlin

Deposited with permission of the author © 2009 Dr. Matthew Robert Peter Bond ; East Timor is rebuilding its stock of infrastructure after decades of underdevelopment and a wave of violent destruction in 1999. As part of this process the Government of East Timor aims to improve access to electricity from less than five percent of the population today to eighty percent by 2020. An important strategy to meeting this aim will be the use of solar home systems (SHS) in remote rural locations. To develop its policy for the deployment of SHS, the Government of East Timor must decide what size of SHS is optimal. This research investigates whether there is a relationship between SHS size and development. The research adapts an evaluation approach developed by World Bank/UNDP Energy Sector Management Assistance Program. This approach uses a combination of participatory and quantitative tools tailored to the East Timorese context through consultations with rural households about electrification and their use of SHS. Three SHS projects in East Timor were selected for evaluation, each of which had adopted a different sized SHS for their program. The smallest systems installed were 10 Wp single-lamp systems. The largest system was rated at 80 Wp and was supplied with four or six lamps. The third type of system was 40 Wp and provided three lamps To assess the development impact of these different sizes of SHS, a set of Participatory Evaluation exercises were conducted with seventy-seven small groups of SHS users in twenty four rural communities. These exercises were supplemented with a Socio-economic Household Survey of 195 SHS users. The combined results of these evaluation processes enabled the three sizes of SHS to be compared for two types of benefits—assistance with carrying out important household tasks (i.e. ‘lighting-derived’ benefits) and attributes of SHS which were advantageous in comparison to use of non-electric lighting sources (i.e. ‘intrinsic’ benefits). Analysis of the research results showed that the small 10 ...

© 2011 Dr. Yadav Prasad Kandel ; Accurate estimation of aboveground tree biomass is a fundamental aspect of studies on carbon stocks of forest ecosystems. Destructive sampling is the most accurate method of estimation of biomass. However, because of its destructive nature and being both labor intensive and time consuming, destructive sampling cannot be applied for large areas. Alternatively, allometric equations developed for a particular species of trees or a general allometric equation for a specific type of forest can be used to estimate aboveground biomass for larger areas. This requires massive fieldwork, which itself is problematic, and it is not always possible to carry out field inventory in forests which are remote and inaccessible. Advanced remote sensing technology is now in the process of being established as the best and most practical alternative of the field-based methods of biomass estimation for large areas and is being used in the study of forests at the regional and national levels of a growing number of countries. Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) is a relatively new, active, remote sensing technology, which is capable of providing three-dimensional structural information of forests and, therefore, can be used to estimate various structural and biophysical parameters of forest stands more accurately than by other optical and RADAR-based remote sensing technologies. The development of hardware and software for the LiDAR system has rapidly advanced during the last decade and has matured to a degree that it is now possible to analyze LiDAR points, which are from individual tree crowns. As a result, LiDAR has now been used as an operational tool in European and North American forestry. In Australia, the use of LiDAR is still in an initial, research phase and there are only a few studies that have investigated its applicability in the broadleaf evergreen forests that dominate the forested lands of Australia. The main focus of this study was the LiDAR-estimation of aboveground tree biomass in two ...

Typescript ; School of Geography ; Includes bibliographical references. (pages 219-248) ; Thesis (PhD) -- University of Melbourne, Faculty of Science, 2015. ; The aim of this thesis is to understand the vulnerability of rural households to climate change in China and the influence of local government on that vulnerability. To achieve this aim, two research questions are addressed: 1) in what ways are rural households vulnerable to climate change?; and 2) in what ways does local government influence rural household vulnerability to climate change? The thesis applies a sustainable livelihoods approach to examining household vulnerability and is further informed by theories of vulnerability to climate change and theories of central-local government relations in China. It posits that local governments influence the vulnerability of rural households by mediating their access to livelihood assets and activities, and by shaping their coping and adaptive strategies. The research questions are addressed through the analysis of data collected in four apple-producing villages � two wealthier and two poorer � in a case study county called Jixian. Jixian is a nationally designated poverty county that lies on the Loess Plateau in Shanxi Province. The methods used are primarily qualitative: semi-structured interviews and direct observation, supported by secondary data collection. The thesis finds that all households in all villages are vulnerable to climate change due to water insecurity, but that some are more vulnerable than others as a result of differential access to land. Households in wealthier villages have better access to land such that they are better able to cope with climatic stress than households in poorer villages. In relation to local government influence, it is the county government that has the most influence through its allocation of resources to villages. Resource allocation is done in such a way as to favour the two wealthier, more developed villages, thus amplifying existing differences in access to ...

© 2013 Dr. Nimesha D. Fernando ; Since 1959, carbon dioxide concentration [CO2] in the atmosphere increased from 315 µmol mol-1 to approximately 389 µmol mol-1 by 2009 in a rate of 1.5 µmol mol-1 per year. Within the next 50 years, atmospheric [CO2] will likely to rise to 550 µmol mol-1. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas and a major factor that contributes to global warming. In parallel, global temperature is predicted to increase by an average of 1.5-4.5 ºC with more frequent occurrences of extreme climatic events such as heat waves and/or drought by the mid of this century. There is a limited understanding on the impact of elevated atmospheric [CO2] (e[CO2]) on wheat grain quality in semi-arid and Mediterranean cropping systems. The research reported in this thesis investigated the effects of e[CO2] on wheat grain physical, chemical, flour rheological properties under two main climate conditions: semi-arid and Mediterranean which represent the water-limited “mega-environment 4”, larger wheat grown area in the world as defined for wheat (Braun et al., 1996). The experiments were carried out using state art technology of free- air CO2 enrichment (FACE) facilities located in Walpeup and Horsham, Victoria, Australia. (See thesis for full abstract)

Foto-Elizitierung ist ein sehr fruchtbares Verfahren, und zwar insbesondere dann, wenn es um die Untersuchung von eher verzweifelten oder desillusionierten Personen (-gruppen) geht. Es kann u.a. genutzt werden, wenn umstrittene Ideen oder Konzepte Thema sind, die für eher skeptische Befragte auch unerwünschte Implikationen haben können, im Falle meiner Studie Farmer, die Zusammenhänge zwischen Bewässerung und Klimawechsel als sehr kritisch erlebten. Im Interviewverlauf wurden fünf Abbildungen präsentiert. Die Interviews wurden aufgezeichnet und später mit Blick auf wiederkehrende, mit den Abbildungen verknüpfte Themen analysiert. Es zeigte sich, dass der Ansatz der Foto-Elizitierung im Falle einiger Befragter für in gewisser Weise optimistischere Lesarten sorgte: Sie sahen in den Fotos das, was sie zu sehen wünschten, und die Fotos wirkten ermutigend, die (zunächst als ausweglos) erlebte Eigenverantwortung für unerwünschten Klimawechsel grundsätzlicher mit politischen Verantwortlichkeiten für Wasserverknappung in Verbindung zu setzen.URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs130321 La inducción gráfica parece ser un método de investigación que potencialmente tiene mucho qué ofrecer, en particular al trabajar con grupos de gente angustiada y afectada. Sobre todo puede ser útil en la presentación ideas debatibles con implicaciones inoportunas a entrevistados escépticos, en este caso, agricultores de riego a quienes se interrogó sobre aspectos del cambio climático. Se presentaron cinco imágenes en el curso de la conducción de entrevistas en profundidad. Se grabaron las entrevistas y se analizaron por temas recurrentes relacionados con las imágenes. El método de inducción gráfica permitió a algunos participantes conservar o construir su sentido de optimismo al mirar las imágenes de inducción gráfica de modos muy particulares: vieron en ellas lo que ellos en realidad querían ver. Animados por las imágenes algunos intentaron transferir la responsabilidad que sentían con relación al cambio climático al gobierno y a los irrigadores de mayor consumo al culparlos por la baja disponibilidad de agua.URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs130321 Graphic-elicitation appears to be a research method that potentially has much to offer, particularly so when working with distressed and disaffected groups. It can be especially suited to presenting contentious ideas with unwelcome implications to sceptical interviewees, in this case irrigation farmers who were questioning aspects of climate change. Five images were introduced in the course of conducting in-depth personal interviews. The interviews were recorded and analysed for recurrent themes related to the images. The graphic-elicitation method allowed some participants to preserve or build their sense of optimism by viewing the graphic-elicitation images in particular ways—they saw in them what they wanted to see. Encouraged by the images some attempted to transfer their felt responsibility toward climate change responses to the government and upstream irrigators by blaming them for their low water availability.URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs130321