505 research outputs found

    Integrating Traditional and Close Range Photogrammetric Bathymetric Reconstructions to Enhance Predictions of Fish Abundance and Distribution on the NSW Coast

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    The physical structure of marine habitat is a key determinant of the distribution and abundance of marine biota. Photogrammetry is a new method of obtaining bathymetric reconstructions using overlapping imagery. It is associated with several potential improvements over traditional bathymetric reconstruction methods (e.g., hydroacoustic and optical remote sensing), including finer resolutions, 3D mesh surfaces, and novel metrics of structural complexity. However, the greater cost of photogrammetric data collection requires evaluation of its purported benefits to marine research. This thesis objectively assessed the potential for photogrammetry to improve predictions of marine biota abundance and distribution. Chapter 2 undertook a quantitative review and metanalysis of latest research and the relative performance of metrics. It indicated common metrics, e.g., surface-rugosity, may not always be the best performing. Chapter 3 systematically explored the relationships between metrics derived from common bathymetric reconstructions and reduced a 2,000 predictor dataset to 100 predictors, whilst maximising information captured. Metric relative performance was assessed in Chapter 4. Photogrammetric metrics contributed to 22 / 35 fish species and 10 / 15 trophic-mobility group best performing abundance models and helped explain a third more variability compared to traditional methods. Chapter 5 extrapolated (‘engineered’) broad-scale photogrammetric metrics from traditional metrics to help alleviate the cost of photogrammetry. Using an independent dataset, the variance 26 / 50 fish species distribution models was explained best when engineered photogrammetric metrics were included. These findings help confirm the purported benefits to marine research associated with photogrammetric metrics, which would likely improve predictions of the distribution and abundance of fish, and likely other marine biota, across Australia and worldwide. Engineered metrics would allow greater model performance to be translated to broad-extents required by marine spatial prioritisation, conservation and management. Notably, traditional metrics were important for some fish species and groups, and future studies should seek to combine these methods wherever possible

    Expert Ignorance:The Law and Politics of Rule of Law Reform

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    Stable polymer glasses

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    This thesis presents investigations on stable polymer glasses prepared through physical vapour deposition from different perspectives. This is the first time that polymers have been used in simple vapour deposition and made into stable glass. The ability of our lab to create stable polymer glasses with exceptional stability and extremely long lifetimes is demonstrated through the preparation and characterization of ultrastable PS as well as PMMA glasses. Attempts at preparing stable polymer glass with higher molecular weight are reported, including two different methods–using higher molecular weight sources and crosslinking as-deposited glasses with ultraviolet radiation. The surface properties of stable polymer glasses including their surface morphology and surface relaxation are studied. With a slower bulk dynamics in stable glasses as expected, the surface evolution of the as-deposited films and the rejuvenated films are both enhanced compared to the bulk and are not easily distinguishable from each other. Investigations on stable polymer glasses confined to thin films are reported. The results support the existence of a surface mobile layer, and it is found that glass stability decreases with decreasing film thickness, as determined by different measures of stability. By studying stable polymer glasses from different perspectives in this thesis, we hope to provide valuable insights into many fundamental questions about the surface dynamics in thin films, the limit of packing in amorphous materials, and the nature of the complex and fascinating phenomenon–the glass transition

    Experimental Analysis and Modeling Investigation of Precipitation Kinetics and Hardening in two Al-Zn-Mg-Cu Alloys

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    The effects of various thermal processing routes on the precipitation hardening behavior and microstructural characteristics of AA7075 and a developmental AA7xxx alloy (D-7xxx) are investigated using multi-scale characterization and modeling techniques. For the AA7075 alloy, two general thermal processing histories are investigated: (a) solutionizing and water-quenching (WQ), or (b) die-quenching (DQ) or forced-air quenching (FAQ) process, all of which were followed by either natural aging or multi-step aging treatments. The multi-step aging treatments include natural aging, followed by intermediate-temperature aging, to achieve pre-aged tempers prior to the final artificial aging step. To investigate natural aging, the strengthening behavior of the water-quenched D-7xxx alloy and the natural aging of water-quenched and pre-aged AA7075 are also studied. The primary precipitation process during the natural aging of the as-water-quenched AA7075 alloy is the nucleation of natural aging Zn-Mg precipitates. The pre-aging process, prior to natural aging, reduces the capacity for precipitate formation and hardening rate of the AA7075 alloy during the room-temperature holding period. Similarly, the die-quenching process applied to AA7075 results in slower kinetics of subsequent natural aging and higher hardness in the as-quenched state compared to the WQ and FAQ conditions. These changes in material behavior are related to the effects of pre-aging precipitation or the presence of dislocations formed during the die-quenching process, which affect the rate of nuclei formation at room temperature. A modeling methodology is introduced to analyze the precipitation kinetics and yield strength evolution during the natural aging of variously processed Al-Zn-Mg-(Cu) alloys. The analysis of the combined modeling and experimental results for the multi-step aging treatments of the AA7075 alloy in DQ, FAQ, and WQ tempers suggests that dislocations formed during the die-quenching process enhance the hardening response of the DQ alloy after a pre-aging treatment (DQ+PA) compared to the similarly aged material after water-quenching or forced-air quenching. After the final stage of aging, the material in the DQ+PA condition exhibits a lower hardness value than the similarly aged WQ and FAQ samples. The recovery of dislocations and the interactions between solutes, vacancies, and fine precipitates with dislocations reduce the hardening response of the alloy in the DQ+PA condition during the subsequent aging treatment. The kinetics of precipitation hardening during the final aging step is also highly affected by dislocation-enhanced precipitation. Microstructure-strength modeling relationships are introduced to predict the evolution of microstructure and the strengthening response of the AA7075-WQ alloy in pre-aged conditions, as well as during subsequent artificial aging treatments. These modeling approaches are further expanded to include the effects of dislocation-enhanced precipitation and dislocation recovery on the kinetics of precipitation and the strengthening behavior during the artificial aging treatment of the alloy in the DQ+PA condition. The validity of these models is verified by the good agreement between the model predictions and the results from the experimental investigations

    A comparative study of impacts and implications of climate change on tourism in IRAN and Portugal (A case study of Kish Island and Algarve Region)

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    Na atualidade, as preocupações com as alterações climáticas estão a crescer em grande escala, o que estimula a investigação relacionada a nível mundial, ainda mais por as mesmas terem implicações no setor do turismo. Pela revisão da literatura realizada, podemos deduzir que um dos tópicos a que os investigadores estão a dar especial atenção é o da relação entre as alterações climáticas e o sector do turismo. O interesse pelas interações entre o clima de determinado destino e o turismo aumentou, visivelmente, à escala global; no entanto, ainda há muita investigação empírica a fazer, sobretudo sobre a forma como os turistas reagem às condições meteorológicas com que se deparam e como o seu comportamento se poderá alterar de acordo com os possíveis cenários de, igualmente possíveis, alterações climáticas no futuro. Sendo o sector do turismo muito dependente das condições meteorológicas, a previsão de possíveis alterações climáticas será essencial para o desenvolvimento sustentável dos destinos turísticos a nível mundial, particularmente em regiões com elevada vulnerabilidade às alterações climáticas, ou seja, em regiões criticas. Entre os diferentes tipos de turismo, o turismo costeiro é o mais vulnerável às alterações climáticas devido às suas atividades ao ar livre, pois as mesmas só são possíveis de realizar sob determinadas condições climáticas. Tendo como um dos objetivos primordiais o contributo para a literatura relacionada com o clima, numa visão holística, escolhemos duas zonas com vulnerabilidades climáticas diferentes, em dois países diferentes, mas pouco estudada(o)s até ao momento. Para tal, nesta tese é feita uma investigação intercontinental, um estudo em Portugal e outro no Irão. Os estudos realizados nos referidos países, em ambos os casos com uma eminente vocação turística, fornecem indicadores sobre alguns, possíveis, impactos das alterações climáticas no sector do turismo em ambos os lados do mundo. Em ambas as regiões consideradas para estudo o turismo costeiro é um motor económico dominante, o que os torna ainda mais vulneráveis relativamente às alterações climáticas. Devido ao aquecimento global, os destinos, em geral, estão a lidar com diferentes tipos de impactos tais como: impactos causados por catástrofes naturais, por tempestades, por fenómenos climáticos extremos, pela erosão costeira, por movimentos de sedimentos, por ondas de calor severas e cada vez mais frequentes, pelo desmoronamento de falésias selvagens ou pelos incêndios florestais devastadores. Na ilha de Kish, para além destes fenómenos, as alterações climáticas provocaram também inundações, secas severas, escassez de água potável e consequente contaminação da mesma, por uma diminuição drástica dos caudais dos rios e por uma elevada redução do nível da água do mar Cáspio. Estas catástrofes naturais também estão muito presentes em Portugal. Os casos de estudo foram selecionados através de um processo de downscaling em que serão comparados dois pontos muito semelhantes, homogéneos ao nível das alterações climáticas e de dependência do turismo costeiro, a Ilha de Kish e a região do Algarve. Este trabalho pode classificar-se como uma investigação aplicada-descritiva, em que se utiliza uma abordagem positivista apoiada em métodos quantitativos. Nesta tese é utilizado um modelo analítico comparativo para estudar e investigar as semelhanças e diferenças entre dois estudos de caso. Com os resultados do estudo pretende-se contribuir cientificamente, de forma robusta e sustentada, no apoio às diferentes entidades do sector do turismo de forma a reduzir a vulnerabilidade das regiões e a melhorar os esforços de adaptação face à situação volátil. Após uma relevante revisão crítica da literatura foi efetuada uma avaliação exaustiva da vulnerabilidade e da adaptação do turismo às alterações climáticas, com base numa abordagem ascendente nacional, utilizando os cenários do IPCC (Painel Internacional sobre Alterações Climáticas) de forma a modelar e a prever possíveis alterações futuras em ambas as regiões consideradas nos estudos de caso. A literatura sobre o impacto das alterações climáticas foi utilizada para fazer um enquadramento para a comparação entre as duas regiões em estudo de caso, situadas nos extremos do globo, a fim de testar um modelo comparativo mais abrangente e de modo a avaliar os impactos das alterações climáticas no turismo costeiro. Nesse sentido, e recorrendo-se a dados climáticos secundários, foi utilizado o Índice Climático do Turismo (ICT), o mais utilizado para avaliar a adequação climática de um destino em atividades turísticas gerais, para investigar os impactos das alterações climáticas no turismo costeiro das duas regiões em estudo. Além do referido, foram utilizados programas informáticos, como por exemplo a calculadora TCI e o Minitab 19, bem como testes estatísticos específicos para dados climáticos, como por exemplo o teste de tendência de Man-Kendall, o teste de declive de Sen, além do modelo do programa Lars-WG6. Acrescente-se que os testes de tendência de Mann-Kendall e o teste de declive de Sen são ferramentas disponibilizadas pelo XLSTAT.xla, suplemento do Excel. Apesar das dificuldades encontradas na obtenção de dados secundários, tanto em Portugal como no Irão, conseguiram-se fazer avaliações fiáveis e desenhar cenários para 2050 e para 2100 confiáveis. Os resultados obtidos mostram que, apesar dos impactos das alterações climáticas em cadeia, a maioria dos turistas continuará a viajar para a região do Algarve e para a Ilha de Kish, mas não durante as épocas altas. No essencial, os turistas manterão a sua fidelidade às regiões, contudo poderão alterar de época, o que poderá ser um, possível, bom indicador pois poderá suavizar sazonalidades intrínsecas às referidas regiões. Por outro lado, a investigação também indicia que as alterações climáticas poderão influenciar a escolha do destino, mas em menor escala. Tal como referido anteriormente, estes resultados contribuem para identificar os impactos potencialmente positivos e negativos das alterações climáticas em ambas as regiões de estudo de caso, o que permitirá aos gestores de destinos e aos decisores políticos tomar decisões apropriadas, sustentadas e robustas, de modo a minimizar os impactos potencialmente negativos e de forma a aproveitar as potenciais oportunidades do futuro. Consequentemente, constatamos que existe uma janela de oportunidade para contribuir para a redução dos impactos mais nefastos das alterações climáticas no setor, mas que será uma oportunidade limitada no tempo, pois a degradação do planeta, em termos climáticos, não para: o mundo tem menos de uma década para mudar de rumo. As medidas a serem implementadas nos próximos anos, ou as que deixarem de ser implementadas, terão um enorme impacto no futuro do sector do turismo e no desenvolvimento de outras atividades humanas. O mundo precisa de mais recursos, sejam ao nível financeiro ou de capacidades tecnológicas, para atuar no imediato. Fundamentalmente, o que falta é um sentido de urgência, de solidariedade humana com os nossos e com os outros, em termos de futuro, ou seja, de um interesse/espirito coletivo. Este estudo recomenda que se faça mais investigação, em particular a outras regiões de outros países com as mesmas preocupações, e sejam desenvolvidos novos métodos de forma a explorar novos índices e métodos que permitam prever situações críticas futuras bem como aplicações das referidas novas tecnologias de forma a mitigar a política de alterações climáticas e a reduzir o risco acrescido dos efeitos das alterações climáticas. Os assuntos tecnológicos, os investigadores, os cientistas metrológicos e os participantes internacionais, leia-se organizações mundiais, têm por obrigação apoiar estes objetivosCurrently, the concerns about climate change are growing on a large scale, which stimulates the related research worldwide, even more so because they have implications for the tourism sector. From the literature review, one of the topics to which researchers are giving special attention is the relationship between climate change and the tourism sector. The interest in the interactions between the climate of a specific destination and the tourism sector has visibly increased on a global scale; however, there is still much empirical research to be done, especially on how tourists react to the weather conditions they encounter and how their behaviour can change according to the possible scenarios of, equally possible, climate change in the future. As the tourism sector is highly dependent on weather conditions, forecasting possible climate change will be essential for the sustainable development of tourist destinations worldwide, particularly in regions with high vulnerability to climate change, i.e., critical regions. Among the different types of tourism, coastal tourism is the most vulnerable to climate change because of its open-air activities, which can only be carried out under certain climatic conditions. Considering the contribution to the climate-related literature as one of the main objectives, in a holistic vision, we have chosen two areas with different climate vulnerabilities in two countries, but little research so far. For this, in this thesis, intercontinental research is done, one study in Portugal and another in Iran. The studies conducted in these countries, both with a prominent tourism vocation, provide indicators of some possible impacts of climate change on the tourism sector in both places. In both regions considered for the study, coastal tourism is a dominant economic driver, making them even more vulnerable to climate change. Because of global warming, the destinations, in general, are managing different types of impacts such as the impacts caused by natural disasters, storms, extreme weather phenomena, coastal erosion, sediment movements, severe and more and more frequent heat waves, the collapse of the wild cliffs or the devastating forest fires. On the island of Kish, in addition to these phenomena, climate change has also caused floods, a severe drought, a shortage of drinking water and its consequent contamination by a drastic reduction in river flows and a high reduction in the water level of the Caspian Sea. These natural disasters are also very present in Portugal. The case studies have been chosen through a downscaling process in which two very similar points, homogeneous regarding climate change and the dependence on coastal tourism, the Island of Kish and the Algarve region, will be compared. This work can be classified as applied-descriptive research using a positivist approach supported by quantitative methods. This thesis uses a comparative analytical model to study and investigate the similarities and differences between two case studies. The results of the study are intended to contribute scientifically, in a robust and sustained way, in supporting the different stakeholders of the tourism sector to reduce the vulnerability of the regions and improve adaptation efforts in the face of the volatile situation. After the relevant critical literature review, a comprehensive assessment of tourism vulnerability and adaptation to climate change was carried out based on a national bottom-up approach, using the IPCC (International Panel on Climate Change) scenarios in order to model and predict potential future changes in the two regions considered in the case studies. The literature concerning the impact of climate change was used to establish a framework for the comparison between the two case study regions located at the extremes of the globe, to test a more comprehensive comparative model and assess the impacts of climate change on coastal tourism. In this sense, and by using secondary climate data, the Tourism Climate Index (TCI), the most widely used to assess the climate suitability of a destination for general tourism activities, was used to investigate the impacts of climate change on the coastal tourism of the two case study regions. In addition to the above, computer programmes, such as the TCI calculator and Minitab 19, as well as statistical tests specific to climate data, such as the Man-Kendall trend test, Sen's slope test, in addition to the Lars-WG6 programme model were used. The Mann-Kendall trend test and Sen's slope test are tools made available by XLSTAT.xla, an Excel add-in. Even with the difficulties in obtaining secondary data in Portugal and Iran, it was possible to conduct accurate assessments and draw reliable scenarios for the years 2050 and 2100. The results show that, notwithstanding the climate change chain impacts, most tourists will keep travelling to the Algarve region and the Island of Kish, but not during the high seasons. In essence, the tourists will keep their loyalty to the regions. However, they may change the season, which can be a good indicator because it can smooth out the seasonality intrinsic to these regions. On the other hand, the research also indicates that climate change may influence the choice of destination, but to a more limited extent. As mentioned above, these results contribute to identifying the potential positive and negative impacts of climate change in both case study regions, which will enable destination managers and decision makers to make appropriate, sustained and robust decisions to mitigate potentially negative impacts and to take advantage of the potential opportunities of the future. Therefore, we see a time window of opportunity to contribute to reducing the most harmful impacts of climate change in the sector. However, it will be a limited opportunity in time because the planet's climatic degradation continues: the world has less than a decade to change course. The measures to be implemented in the coming years, or those that are no longer implemented, will significantly impact the future of the tourism sector and the development of other human activities. The world needs more resources, be they financial or technological capacities, to operate in the immediate future. Fundamentally, what is missing is a sense of urgency, of human solidarity with our own and others, in terms of the future, in other words, a collective interest/spirit. This study recommends that further research be done, particularly in other regions in other countries with the same preoccupations and that new methods be developed in order to explore the new indices and the methods for predicting future critical situations as well as the applications of these new technologies in order to mitigate the climate change policy and reduce the increased risk of the effects of climate change. The technological affairs, the researchers, the metrological scientists and the international participants, in other words, global organizations, should support these objectives

    Climate change impact on the cryosphere: from local to global scale

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    La criosfera, la porzione della superficie terrestre dove l'acqua è immagazzinata allo stato solido, svolge un ruolo di fondamentale importanza nella regolazione del bilancio energetico terrestre e del ciclo idrologico, fornendo risorse idriche a molte regioni del pianeta. La criosfera, regolando ed allo stesso tempo essendo influenzata dalle condizioni climatiche, è una importante sentinella dei cambiamenti climatici, subendone gli effetti e scaturendone ulteriori a scala globale e locale. In questo studio vengono analizzate diverse tematiche legate alla criosfera, dalle Alpi italiane alla Groenlandia. Viene studiata in primo luogo la climatologia di altezza ed equivalente in acqua del manto nevoso (SWE) tramite l'analisi statistica di altezza e densità della neve raccolte tra il 1967 ed il 2020 in un'ampia regione delle Alpi italiane. Dall'analisi statistica è emerso che l'altezza neve è diminuita di 12 cm e lo SWE di 37 mm per decade dal 1967. L'altezza media della neve si è ridotta del 33\% nel periodo 1994-2020 rispetto al periodo 1967-1993, mentre lo SWE del 37\%. Gli effetti del cambiamento climatico risultano essere più intensi a basse altitudini, con una riduzione dell'altezza del manto nevoso del 63\% al di sotto dei 1500 m. Questi risultati sono ulteriormente confermati dal change-point trovato a fine anni 1980. L'analisi del dataset HISTALP mostra la forte dipendenza dell'evoluzione del manto nevoso dalla temperatura, influenzando lo stato di precipitazione e regolando l'inizio della fusione. Gli effetti del manto nevoso a scala locale sono stati studiati analizzando il contributo della fusione nivale nel caso di eventi di precipitazione intensa con presenza di neve al suolo. L'analisi è stata limitata alle stazioni di Aprica e Pantano d'Avio, in Lombardia, dove sono stati raccolti i dati di temperatura, precipitazione ed altezza neve dal 1996. Con i dati osservati è stato calibrato un modello gradi-giorno tramite il quale è stato possibile ricostruire la serie temporale della somma di precipitazione e fusione nivale per le durate di 1, 3, 6, 12 e 24 ore. L'analisi degli annual maxima ha mostrato che la fusione nivale contribuisce ad un incremento medio dei quantili di circa il 2.2\%, aumentando con la durata fino a raggiungere, in un solo caso, il 10\%. Ad una più larga scala, lo studio della fusione superficiale della Groenlandia è di fondamentale importanza nella stima del contributo della calotta di ghiaccio all'innalzamento del livello medio degli oceani. Sono stati raccolti ed intercalibrati i dati satellitari a microonde passive raccolti da sensori montati su cinque diversi satelliti tra il 1979 ed il 2019. Il confronto con dati misurati da stazioni meteorologiche e con simulazioni del modello climatico regionale MAR hanno mostrato che un algoritmo basato sul modello di emissione elettromagnetica MEMLS riesce a cogliere l'evoluzione spaziale e temporale della fusione superficiale. L'analisi dei trend di lungo periodo ha mostrato che la superficie di fusione è aumentata tra il 3.6 ed il 6.9\% dell'intera area della Groenlandia per decennio durante il periodo di osservazione. Inoltre, la stagione di fusione è iniziata tra i 3 ed i 4 giorni prima e si è conclusa tra i 3 ed i 7 giorni dopo ogni decennio. Il numero totale medio di giorni di fusione è aumentato di circa 3-5 giorni per decennio. Per l'area della Groenlandia è stato poi implementato un algoritmo di downscaling statistico per il modello MAR. Il confronto con le misure di temperatura delle stazioni meteorologiche e con i dati di temperatura superficiale rilevati dal satellite Lansat-8 mostra come il dataset ad elevata risoluzione riesca meglio a cogliere la distribuzione spaziale della temperatura, senza perdere accuratezza a livello locale. Il confronto con le misure di bilancio di massa superficiale mostra invece un sostanziale miglioramento rispetto all'output originale a bassa risoluzioneThe cryosphere, the region of the Earth where water is stored in its solid form, plays a crucial role in regulating Earth’s energy balance and contributes to moisture fluxes and freshwater storage and release, providing water resources to many regions of the world. The cryosphere affects and is affected by climate conditions, being a driver and a sentinel of climate change, and playing a role of paramount importance from global to local scale processes. Here, different topics related to the cryosphere are investigated, spanning from the Greenland ice sheet to the Italian alps. A climatology of snow depth and snow water equivalent is carried out using a dataset of snow depth and snow density measurements collected at 299 sites between 1967 and 2020 over a wide portion of the Italian Alps. By performing different statistical analyses, a decrease of 12 cm every decade in snow depth and 37 mm every decade in SWE has been found since 1967. Average snow depth in the period 1994-2020 has been 33% lower than in the period 1967-1993, with stronger effects at low altitudes (reduction of 63% below 1500 m asl). The average SWE in 1994-2020 has been 36% lower than in 1967-1993. These results are confirmed by the increased elevation of the computed null snow depth elevation and the detected change-points at the end of the 1980s. The analysis of the HISTALP dataset confirmed the strong dependency of snow accumulation and melt on air temperature, impacting liquid/solid precipitation separation and timing of melt onset. The influence of snow on ground at local scale has been investigated evaluating the contribution of snowmelt to intense rain-on-snow events in Lombardy. By means of measured temperature, precipitation and snow depth data and the calibration of a snowmelt model, the timeseries of the combination of precipitation and melt has been obtained for the fixed durations 1, 3, 6, 12 and 24 h. The annual maxima analysis revealed that snowmelt increases the quantiles obtained from the selected extreme values distributions of about 2.2%, with stronger impacts for longer durations, up to 10%. At a larger scale, the analysis of surface melting over the Greenland ice sheet is of paramount importance to better estimate the ice sheet contribution to sea level rise. The cross-calibration of five different sensors collecting satellite data over the Greenland ice sheet between 1979 and 2019 has been performed. The comparison with in-situ observation and the output of the regional climate model MAR revealed that a threshold-based melt detection algorithm based on the electromagnetic emission model MEMLS shows the best performances in capturing surface melting evolution. The long-term trends analysis showed an increase of surface melting areal extension of about 3.6-6.9% of the Greenland ice sheet every decade. The melting season has started between 3 and 4 days earlier and between 3 and 7 days later every decade. The total number of melting days has increase by 3-5 days every decade. A statistical downscaling algorithm for the regional climate model MAR has been implemented. The comparison with in-situ observations and satellite measurements revealed that the downscaled dataset can well capture temperature temporal evolution and spatial distribution. It better captures at local scale the cumulated surface mass balance, exhibiting lower errors when compared with measured surface mass balance with respect to the original modelled outpu

    PhD students´day FMST 2023

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    The authors gave oral presentations of their work online as part of a Doctoral Students’ Day held on 15 June 2023, and they reflect the challenging work done by the students and their supervisors in the fields of metallurgy, materials engineering and management. There are 82 contributions in total, covering a range of areas – metallurgical technology, thermal engineering and fuels in industry, chemical metallurgy, nanotechnology, materials science and engineering, and industrial systems management. This represents a cross-section of the diverse topics investigated by doctoral students at the faculty, and it will provide a guide for Master’s graduates in these or similar disciplines who are interested in pursuing their scientific careers further, whether they are from the faculty here in Ostrava or engineering faculties elsewhere in the Czech Republic. The quality of the contributions varies: some are of average quality, but many reach a standard comparable with research articles published in established journals focusing on disciplines of materials technology. The diversity of topics, and in some cases the excellence of the contributions, with logical structure and clearly formulated conclusions, reflect the high standard of the doctoral programme at the faculty.Ostrav
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