Evolution of the Great Barrier Reef over the last 130 ka; a multifaceted approach, integrating palaeo ecological, palaeo environmental and chronological data from cores.

Over the last few decades there has been a significant decline in the health and diversity of modern reefs globally. High resolution millennial scale records of coral reef response to environmental per- turbations are needed to determine if this decline is the result of recent anthropogenic activity, or represents part of a natural longer-term geological cycle. Hence, a range of multi-proxy palaeode- positional indicators (coralgal assemblages, sedimentary facies and associated biota) were integrated with chronologic data, to provide a greater understanding of the geologic and ecologic factors which controlled reef development during the Holocene and Last Interglacial (LIG). This constitutes the most comprehensive regional chronologic and ecologic investigation of mid-outer platform reefs, in the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) over the past 130 ka. Fifteen pre-existing long cores (10 ka) geological timescales. Results suggest that the palaeoenvironments during the initial turn-on phases of the two interglacial intervals (Holocene and LIG) were signi - cantly di erent. However, similar composition of ultimate shallow-water coralgal assemblages and slow reef aggradation rates following stabilisation of sea level, suggest both the LIG and Holocene reefs developed in a similar way as they approached mean sea level. These results further suggest that if rapid sea level rise were to occur in the future, similar to that at the onset of the LIG and in combination with other environmental stresses (e.g. warmer SST, increased turbidity, ocean acidi - cation, increased bleaching, excess nutrient runo ), the GBR may experience a near drowning event analogous to that experienced during the LIG

The location and kinematics of the emission line regions in Active Galactic Nuclei

This thesis contains the results from a study of the optical emission lines of various samples of active galactic nuclei (AGN). We have used three separate techniques to determine the precise kinematics and the relative location of the emission line regions of AGN: a detailed study of a small sample (10) of AGN, a study of the general emission line properties of two larger samples, and the interpretation of the results from observations using numeric photoionisation models. Although we present results on both the broad line and narrow line regions of AGN the main drive behind this work is the study of the poorly defined intermediate line region using emission from highly ionised species (high ionisation emission lines). Our results derived from observations indicate that a significant proportion of the emission from these species is produced within the central void of the putative dusty torus and that emission from more highly ionised species increases at radii closer to the central engine of the AGN. Furthermore, we find strong evidence that the intermediate region traced by these high ionisation emission lines is generally outflowing from the central engine but there is little evidence of any significant acceleration or deceleration of this material between the inner and outer regions traced by the higher and lower ionisation lines, respectively. Our results derived from numerical photoionisation codes support a model in which this outflowing material responsible for the high ionisation line emission is launched from the inner edge of the the dusty torus

Design Optimization of Wind Energy Conversion Systems with Applications

Modern and larger horizontal-axis wind turbines with power capacity reaching 15 MW and rotors of more than 235-meter diameter are under continuous development for the merit of minimizing the unit cost of energy production (total annual cost/annual energy produced). Such valuable advances in this competitive source of clean energy have made numerous research contributions in developing wind industry technologies worldwide. This book provides important information on the optimum design of wind energy conversion systems (WECS) with a comprehensive and self-contained handling of design fundamentals of wind turbines. Section I deals with optimal production of energy, multi-disciplinary optimization of wind turbines, aerodynamic and structural dynamic optimization and aeroelasticity of the rotating blades. Section II considers operational monitoring, reliability and optimal control of wind turbine components