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Anthropogenic climate change is predicted to be a major cause of extinctions. Therefore, a major aim of climate change ecology is to understand how species are being impacted and identify which species are most at risk. However, the ability to make these broad generalisations requires large-scale comparative analyses based on appropriate assumptions. This thesis investigates how European birds respond to changes in climate, the validity of several common assumptions, and identifies which species or populations are most at risk based on multiple long-term datasets. Our understanding of how different responses relate and how they affect population persistence is lacking. A conceptual hierarchical framework is introduced in chapter one to better understand and predict when climate-induced trait changes (phenology or physiology) impact demographic rates (survival or reproduction), and subsequently population dynamics. I synthesise the literature to find hypotheses about life-history and ecological characteristics that could predict when population dynamics will likely be affected. An example shows that, although earlier laying with warmer temperatures was associated with improved reproduction, this had no apparent effect on population trends in 35 British birds. Number of broods partly explains which species are most at risk of temperature-induced population declines. It is often assumed that populations within species respond similarly to climate change, and therefore a single value will reflect species-specific responses. Chapter two explores inter- and intra-specific variation in body condition responses to six climatic variables in 46 species over 21 years and 80 sites. Body condition is sensitive to all six variables (primarily in a non-linear way), and declines with warmer temperatures. I find that species signals might not exist as populations of the same species are no more alike than populations of different species. Decreased body condition is typically assumed to have detrimental consequences on species’ vital rates and population dynamics, but this assumption has rarely been tested. Expanding on chapter two, chapter three shows that temperature-induced declines in body condition have no apparent consequences on demography and population dynamics. Instead, temperature has strong effects on reproductive success and population growth rates via unknown traits and demographic rates. Much of the literature investigating climatic impacts assumes that temporal trends accurately reflect responses to climate change, and therefore investigate trait changes over time. In chapter four, I use two long-term datasets to demonstrate that, for four different types of trait responses, trait variation through time cannot be assumed to be due to warming. Non-temperature causal agents are important…

Scientific evidence and evidence-based reasoning are likely to face epistemological challenges when brought into societal debate if their foundational assumptions generate cognitive dissonance among key elements of the community. The risk of dissonance is even greater when scientific demonstrations and models are concerned with the decisions and behaviours of people interacting with an environment of interest. In this case, scientific information is often perceived as distorted or biased due to the inherent uncertainties attached to human ecosystems Human ecosystems are complex and adaptive, largely due to our individual cognitive capacities and communication skills. Complex systems science aims to track uncertainties attached to these systems by exploring metaphoric models of reality.

Creative arts have long been used for making meaning and conveying knowledge. Music, dance, painting, and storytelling are art forms that have the power to connect us to each other. This research investigates using the arts to connect us to the planet as well. I refer to this relationship as Econnection. Originally published as “Creative Arts-based Pedagogies in Early Childhood Education for Sustainability (EfS): Challenges and Possibilities” (Ward, 2013) the central research question was: In what ways can self-generated creative arts experiences assist early childhood educators to support young children to learn about the environment?

With the deepening of global financial and economic instability, the search for ways to increase fiscal sustainability becomes relevant in the crisis regulation system. This problem is compounded by the emergence of new global challenges, including the COVID pandemic. Timely and complex analysis of the local budget financial sustainability allows one to comprehensively assess financial and economic risks, identify social and other problems, consider planning deficiencies and, on this basis, form a sound and effective regional budget policy. The purpose of the study is to summarize theoretical and practical principles of assessing the financial sustainability of local budgets and to outline the directions for its improvement in Ukraine considering international practices. The study revealed the lack of a unified system for assessing the financial sustainability of local budgets in Ukraine. On the basis of generalization of theoretical and methodological approaches, a system of indicators for estimating the financial sustainability of local budgets has been identified. The indicators were grouped and calculated. Based on the study of practical experience, measures have been specified that would contribute to a systematic approach to assessing the financial sustainability of local budgets in Ukraine. It was concluded that a systematic assessment of the financial sustainability of local budgets is a prerequisite for making informed management decisions about necessary adjustments to the budget, improving the quality of budget planning and the effectiveness of budget policy. l

Industrial poplar plantations represent a strategic source of wood products for many countries. Harvested after 10 to 30 years, they yield about 200 t ha-1 of timber and 100 t ha-1 industrial wood. The latter is obtained from poplar tops, which can be converted into chips, or a mix of pulpwood and chips. The study compared four options to process poplar tops. Alternatives derived from the intersection of two product strategies (pulpwood and chips, or chips only) with two pulpwood processing methods (manual or mechanized). Both mechanization and simplification (only one product) succeeded in reducing production cost, but the former had a stronger effect. The tests demonstrated that all options were cost-effective and could return some profits. However, the exclusive production of chips offered lower profits, compared to an articulate product strategy aimed at maximising value recovery. In the case of Italian poplar plantations, the price difference between pulp and chips is generally larger than the cost reduction obtained with integral chipping. Similar conclusions were reached by other authors working with spruce and beech in Central Europe. Of course, this is only true for the current price levels of pulpwood and chips: results may change, if this price balance will be altered by the growing demand for biomass fuel.

The initial stages of oxide nucleation and surface oxide formation are hot topics at the moment due to the possible application of these materials in many fields of science and technology. The understanding of the parameters controlling these processes is therefore pivotal not only for the fundamental knowledge of the physical phenomenon but also for enabling the growth of better quality oxide phases, with a higher degree of order and/or a lower density of contaminants. Here I will summarize the main results obtained by a collaboration between experimental groups in Genova and Osaka and between the experimentalists in Genova and theoretical groups in Trieste and Ljubljana, on the initial oxidation of the noble metals Ag and Cu. I will show that the local morphology of surface defects and/or the dosing conditions are essential elements to determine the nature of the oxide form which starts to nucleate upon exposure to O2. On stepped Ag we find that, under vacuum conditions, the stoichiometry of the initial oxide nuclei is tuned by the atomic geometry at the low coordination site, while on Cu(410) the oxidation efficiency comes out to be highly enhanced both by the presence of steps and by exposure to hyperthermal oxygen. The relative amount of cuprous and cupric oxide formed depends on oxidation temperature.

Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Use (AFOLU) is unique among the sectors considered in this volume, since the mitigation potential is derived from both an enhancement of removals of greenhouse gases (GHG), as well as reduction of emissions through management of land and livestock (robust evidence; high agreement). The land provides food that feeds the Earth’s human population of ca. 7 billion, fibre for a variety of purposes, livelihoods for billions of people worldwide, and is a critical resource for sustainable development in many regions. Agriculture is frequently central to the livelihoods of many social groups, especially in developing countries where it often accounts for a significant share of production. In addition to food and fibre, the land provides a multitude of ecosystem services; climate change mitigation is just one of many that are vital to human well-being (robust evidence; high agreement). Mitigation options in the AFOLU sector, therefore, need to be assessed, as far as possible, for their potential impact on all other services provided by land. [Section 11.1]

Abstract Energy storage is equally important as energy production. The modern human society demands lightweight, flexible, inexpensive and environment friendly energy storage systems. Batteries are the major energy storage devices, but slow charge-discharge rate, short life cycles and bulkiness of battery limit its applications in portable and wearable devices. Lately, supercapacitors have been receiving a great attention as alternative energy storage devices because of their distinctive features such as high power density, light weight, fast charging-discharging rate, secure operation and long life span. Supercapacitors, also called electrochemical capacitors, are already being used in various applications such as hybrid vehicles, power back up, military services and portable electronics like laptops, mobile phones, wrist watches, wearable devices, roll-up displays, electronic papers, etc. The materials utilized in the supercapacitors play a prominent role, because the performance of supercapacitors depends on its properties. Specific capacitance of a supercapacitor depends on the surface area and the pore size distribution of the electrode material used for its fabrication. Compared with the transition metal oxides and conducting polymers, carbon and its different types provide larger surface area. However, this high surface area of carbon is not completely accessible for the electrolyte. In this context, metal oxide nanostructures are considered quite attractive candidates in energy storage applications due to their unique properties. Metal oxide nanostructures based energy storage devices have been shown to exhibit superior electrochemical performance due to their high surface to volume ratio and high mechanical flexibilities. The supercapacitor performance depends on morphology and oxidation state of metal oxide. Metal oxides such as RuO2, MnO2, TiO2, NiO, CoO, CuO, and composite materials are potential candidates for supercapacitor applications. RuO2 and MnO2 are the prominent electrode materials due to higher energy density with higher theoretical capacitance of about 1450 and 1270 F/g, respectively. RuO2 limits its utilization being scarce, extremely expensive (5000/- @1g) and toxic to some extent. At the same time MnO2 has its own benefits like cheap material cost, plentiful availability in the earth’s crust, and environmental friendliness. However, the conductivity of MnO2 is much lower ranging from 10-7 to10-3 S/cm. The main advantage of MnO2 is that it shows much higher specific capacitance with aqueous electrolytes as compared to other gel or solid electrolytes. But associated with this advantage is the problem that MnO2 is soluble in water and cell becomes dead after a few charging and discharging cycles. The previous reported studies suggest that MnO2 electrode supercapacitors (when material is synthesised by hydrothermal method without a surfactant) show low cyclic stability and specific capacitance. Triethanolamine (TEA) is a good surfactant for synthesis of metal oxides but has not been used for synthesis of MnO2. It is possible to synthesise MnO­2 nanostructures with desirable crystalline structures and morphology using TEA as surfactant, which won’t dissolve in water over high number of charge-discharge cycles. The aim of this study is to synthesize the metal oxide based manganese nanostructure material to explore its applicability as the electrode in supercapacitor. For this, b-MnO2 nanostructures have been synthesized via TEA assisted hydrothermal method at different reaction temperatures. Silver doped MnO2 nanocomposite and Carbon-MnO2 composite electrode materials have also been synthesized by hydrothermal method expecting enhanced electrochemical performance of the cell. The structural and crystallite size study of the materials have been carried out using X- ray diffraction (XRD). The morphological studies have been carried out by using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) analysis is performed for material purity, quantity and binding energy of those elements that are present within the top 1-12 nm of the sample surface. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) investigation has been undertaken to identify the functional groups in the material. Supercapacitors have been fabricated using the electrodes which are prepared with the various synthesized β-MnO2 and its composite materials. The electrochemical performance has been tested with three different analytical tools including cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic charge discharge and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. XRD data of MnO2 samples are in agreement with JCPDS card no. 81-2261, which suggests the formation of β-MnO2 tetragonal planes with lattice parameters a = b = 4.3985 Å and c = 2.8701 Å. The intensity of the diffraction peaks is found to increase as the synthesis temperature is increased from 60℃ to 120. XPS analysis of β-MnO2 sample synthesised at 120℃ reveals the surface oxidation state of manganese with Mn4+ 2P3/2 and Mn4+ 2P1/2 peaks located at 642.1 eV and 652.5 eV. SEM micrographs suggested that the temperature of synthesis affects the surface morphology and nanorods structure of MnO2 and that the high surface area and porous β-MnO2 nanorods are developed by hydrothermal synthesis at the reaction temperature near 100℃. The porosity of the nanostructures assists in better ion transportation in the electrode and improves the contact area for electrolyte ions to perform rapid surface redox reactions. Selected Area Electron Diffraction (SAED) pattern of β-MnO2 showed crystal planes at (110), (101), (210), (220), and (301) with interplanar spacing 3.109 Å, 2.403 Å, 1.959 Å, 1.555 Å, and 1.300 Å, respectively in agreement with the results obtained from XRD. FTIR exhibited the MnO2 vibrational bands at 707.1 and 529.2 cm-1. As expected, the β-MnO2 nanorods analysed as supercapacitor electrode in 1M Na2SO4 liquid electrolyte exhibited high specific capacitance of 89.63, 128.05, 461.59 and 288.72 F/g at a scan rate of 10 mV/s (on a wide potential window of 0-0.8 V) for the sample synthesized at temperatures 60℃, 80℃, 100℃ and 120℃, respectively. The best performance is observed for electrode of the MnO2 synthesised at 100℃, which can be attributed to large surface area (due to larger size nanorods) available for charge-storage and for redox-reactions (pseudocapacitive type of charge-storage). The energy densities recorded are 7.11, 10.55, 38.89 and 30.67 Wh/Kg at a power density of 0.4 kW/Kg. The morphological analysis of Ag doped MnO2 performed by SEM revealed a particle size of about 50 nm. The highest specific capacitance is found to be 523.91 F/g at the scan rate 10 mV/s (on a potential window of 0-0.8 V). Doping of Ag in MnO2 increases the specific capacitance of the supercapacitor as compared to pure MnO2 nanorods. Carbon-MnO2 supercapacitor has given specific capacitance value (560 F/g at scan rate 10 mV/s on a potential window of 0-0.8 V) which is even higher than AgMnO2 electrode based symmetric supercapacitor. The specific capacitance increases as carbon has higher surface area leading to increased adsorption of ions on the surface of electrode. The thesis also suggests various extended research options like different electrolytes, other electrode materials and fabrication of asymmetric supercapacitors aiming at further enhanced and desirable characteristics.