GAELS Project Final Report: Information environment for engineering

The GAELS project was a collaboration commenced in 1999 between Glasgow University Library and Strathclyde University Library with two main aims:· to develop collaborative information services in support of engineering research at the Universities of Glasgow and Strathclyde· to develop a CAL (computer-aided learning package) package in advanced information skills for engineering research students and staff The project was funded by the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council (SHEFC) from their Strategic Change Initiative funding stream, and funding was awarded initially for one year, with an extension of the grant for a further year. The project ended in June 2001.The funding from SHEFC paid for two research assistants, one based at Glasgow University Library working on collaborative information services and one based at Strathclyde University Library developing courseware. Latterly, after these two research assistants left to take up other posts, there has been a single researcher based at Glasgow University Library.The project was funded to investigate the feasibility of new services to the Engineering Faculties at both Universities, with a view to making recommendations for service provision that can be developed for other subject areas

Alloyed-core colloidal quantum dot DFB laser with encapsulated gain region

A CdSxSe1−x/ZnS colloidal quantum dot distributed-feedback laser operating in the nanosecond-regime with a threshold below 3 kW/cm2 is reported. The laser emits vertically up to 40 nJ at 600 nm with an efficiency of 1.2%

Chartism and the churches (with special reference to Lancashire): an account of the churches and social reform in the Chartist period

This account of the Churches and Social Reform in the Chartist period had its inception in war -time London. The spirit of reform was in the air. The Beveridge Report had caught the imagination of the public and, by reading either the official publication, or the very full summaries which appeared in the Press, thousands of people has become familiar with its declared intention of eliminating poverty, disease and ignorance zrom the life of the community. Inevitably, in countless discussion groups the question was put: "What part are the Churches destined to play in movements seeking to implement these proposals ?" There was much in the situation to remind the careful observer of the period of the Chartist agitation. The greatest similarity in the two periods is that they were bridging periods between two different orders. The Chartist period was a period of social awakening between the heartless economics first developed in the eighteenth century and the inevitable measures of reform in the middle of last century. The period of the Beveridge Report was one in which it was evident that the dissemination of knowledge, the increased control over the powers of nature, and a widespread realisation that no civilised nation could afford to have any of its citizens living brutishly-or unhealthily, had outmoded the pre-war economic theories.In such a situation it seemed worthwhile to begin a study of the attitude of the Churches to Chartism, an aspect of the movement which, with one notable exception, has been almost cornpletely ignored by historians. The exception is the account of "Chartism and the Churches ", produced for the Columbia University Series in History, Law, and Economics in 1916, by Harold U. Faulkner. Excellent as this account is, one essay could not be expected to do more than map out the field and indicate the main lines which could. be followed most profitably by later research students.The present writer's 'original intention was to give an account of Chartism and the Churches within the County of 'Lancashire. Almost immediately, however, it became apparent that the geographical distribution of Chartism tells us very little; the movement can only be understood in its moral, social, and spiritual significance if it is seen against the background or life in the whole country during the first half of the nineteenth century. The Chartist period was one of expansion; communications were rapidly improving, and the scope of the spoken arid. written word was being widened. Ideas, then, would 'be disseminated much more readily than would have been the case, say, in 1800; this would almost. certainly militate against the localisation of particular modes of thought or action within any particular geographical area. Yet equally important is the fact that it is quite impossible to write a satisfactory account of any aspect of Chartism without giving great weight to the activities of the Chartists in Lancashire; for although the movement was actually inaugurated at a meeting of the London Working Men's Association, it received its strongest support from, and achieved its greatest success among, the toiling masses of the industrial towns of Lancashire.Chartism existed as an organised expression of working-class discontent from 1837 to 1852, but no indication of its origin, purpose, and achievements could be given if that period were studied in isolation. It arose out of the events which marked the development of an industrial community (luring, and in the years immediately succeeding, the Napoleonic Wars. The economic dislocation which produced such a degree of poverty and hunger as to predispose the workers to revolutionary ideas, was in a very real sense an outcome of the great Continental 'Wars. The Working Classes has placed great hopes in the Reform Act of 1832 and these had not been realised; they had fought for Sadler's Bill - the Ten Hours Bill - and they had lost the campaign, for the limitation of hours was not in fact achieved until 1847. The New Parliament of which they had expected such great things, had, in passing the Poor Law Âmenament Act of 1834, raised over their old age and their periods of unemployment the grim spectre of the workhouse. These events contained the seeds of Chartism, and something must be said of the agitation for Factory Reform, and Education, and the revolt against the New Poor Law, if its character as a mass agitation is to be understood and the reasons for its apparent failure to be appreciated. These parallel movements also won the greatest support from the Lancashire workers, but they cannot be studied unless Lancashire is seen in the setting of the whole country.Similar difficulties at once became evident when the attitude of religious bodies to social questions came under review. In the case of the Anglican and Wesleyan Churches with their highly centralised organisations, the policies of the Lancashire Churches were in a large measure determined by the decisions of leaders and conferences meeting in many parts of the country, and legislating for all the Churches of their communion. In the case of the Wesleyan Church, it seemed essential to make clear how the reactionary character of Conference decisions led to schisms, and how Methodism expressed its message through the medium of groups and denominations which had seceded from the parent body. The Baptist and Congregational theories of church government were more elastic and a larger measure of local autonomy in their Churches was allowed; it was therefore possible for these organisations to adapt themselves to purely local conditions, and, in their case, the impact of social reform on religion can be estimated within their own areas. The Roman Catholic Church in Lancashire, with its large influx of Irish immigrants during the Chartist era, presents highly intricate social and economic problems which call for a separate and exhaustive study. In this work only the main outlines of such problems have been indicated.If the treatment of the subject had been confined to its narrowest limitations, it would have been possible to state in two or three paragraphs that the Churches as organisations, and the vast majority of their members, ignored the Chartist aspirations for reform and condemned the tactics adopted by the Chartists. Such a picture would be false and misleading. Many people in the Churches sympathised with the aims of the Chartists, felt a sense of concern and responsibility for the hunger and discontent of which Chartism was the outcome, but were repelled by the element of violence in the campaign and by the revolutionary nature of the points in the Charter. Such people gave their support to other contemporary social reform movements and occasionally found themselves swept into Chartist activity. The classic case, of this kind, in Lancashire, was Joseph Rayner Stephens, to whom a separate chapter has been devoted, and whose life-story has still to be written with any degree of accuracy. In this way even the Wesleyan Church -- fiercest of all denominations in its opposition to Chartism -- fiercest of all denominations in its opposition to Chartism - produced some notable Chartist leaders

Requirements for minerals and metals for 100% renewable scenarios

© The Author(s) 2019. This chapter explores the magnitude of the changes in patterns of material use that will be associated with the increasing deployment of renewable energy and discusses the implications for sustainable development. In particular, this chapter focuses on the increased use of lithium and cobalt, metals which are used extensively in battery technologies, and silver used in solar cells. Consistent with the strong growth in renewable energy and electrification of the transport system required in a 1.5°C scenario, the material requirements also rise dramatically, particularly for cobalt and lithium. Scenarios developed for this study show that increasing recycling rates and material efficiency can significantly reduce primary demand for metals

The influence of variable snowpacks on habitat use by mountain caribou

Mountain caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) in southeastern British Columbia subsist for most of the winter on arboreal hair lichen, mostly Bryoria spp. Foraging occurs mainly in old subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa) forests near treeline. Here, the lower limit of Bryoria in the canopy is dictated by snowpack depth because hair lichens die when buried in snow. Bryoria is often beyond the reach of caribou in early winter, prompting caribou to move downslope to where lichen occurs lower in the canopy and other foraging modes are possible. Snowpacks are normally deep enough by late winter that caribou can reach Bryoria where it is most abundant, at high elevations. Extending this to inter-annual comparisons, Bryoria should be less accessible during late winter of low-snow years following normal winters, or of normal to low-snow years after deep-snow winters. We hypothesized that when maximum snowpack in late winter is low relative to the deepest of the previous 5 years, mountain caribou will use lower elevations to facilitate foraging (“lichen-snow-caribou” or LSC hypothesis). We tested this with late-winter data from 13 subpopulations. In the dry climatic region generally and for minor snowfall differences in wet and very wet regions, caribou did not shift downslope or in fact were at higher elevations during relatively low-snow years, possibly reflecting the ease of locomotion. The LSC hypothesis was supported within wet and very wet regions when snowpacks were about 1 m or more lower than in recent years. Elevation declined by 300 m (median) to 600 m (25th percentile) for snowpack differences of at least 1.5 m. Greater use of lodgepole pine and western hemlock stands sometimes also occurred. Management strategies emphasizing subalpine fir stands near treeline should be re-examined to ensure protection of a broader range of winter habitats used by caribou under variable snowpack conditions

A study to define meteorological uses and performance requirements for the Synchronous Earth Observatory Satellite

The potential meteorological uses of the Synchronous Earth Observatory Satellite (SEOS) were studied for detecting and predicting hazards to life, property, or the quality of the environment. Mesoscale meteorological phenonmena, and the observations requirements for SEOS are discussed along with the sensor parameters

A synthesis of scale-dependent ecology of the endangered mountain caribou in British Columbia, Canada

Mountain caribou are an endangered ecotype of woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) that live in highprecipitation, mountainous ecosystems of southeastern British Columbia and northern Idaho. The distribution and abundance of these caribou have declined dramatically from historical figures. Results from many studies have indicated that mountain caribou rely on old conifer forests for several life-history requirements including an abundance of their primary winter food, arboreal lichen, and a scarcity of other ungulates and their predators. These old forests often have high timber value, and understanding mountain caribou ecology at a variety of spatial scales is thus required to develop effective conservation strategies. Here we summarize results of studies conducted at three different spatial scales ranging from broad limiting factors at the population level to studies describing the selection of feeding sites within seasonal home ranges of individuals. The goal of this multi-scale review is to provide a more complete picture of caribou ecology and to determine possible shifts in limiting factors across scales. Our review produced two important results. First, mountain caribou select old forests and old trees at all spatial scales, signifying their importance for foraging opportunities as well as conditions required to avoid alternate ungulates and their predators. Second, relationships differ across scales. For example, landscapes dominated by roads and edges negatively affect caribou survival, but appear to attract caribou during certain times of the year. This juxtaposition of fine-scale behaviour with broad-scale vulnerability to predation could only be identified through integrated multi-scale analyses of resource selection. Consequently we suggest that effective management strategies for endangered species require an integrative approach across multiple spatial scales to avoid a focus that may be too narrow to maintain viable populations. Abstract in Norwegian / Sammendrag:Skala-avhengig økologi og truet fjellvillrein i Britisk ColumbiaFjellvillreinen i de nedbørsrike fjellområdene i sørøstre Britisk Columbia og nordlige Idaho som er en truet økotype av skogsreinen (Rangifer tarandus caribou), har blitt kraftig redusert både i utbredelse og antall. Mange studier har vist at denne økotypen er avhengig av vinterføden hengelav i gammel barskog hvor det også er få andre klovdyr og dermed få predatorer. Slik skog er også viktige hogstområder, og å forstå økologien til fjellvillreinen i forskjellige skaleringer er derfor nødvendig for å utvikle forvaltningsstrategier som kan berge og ta vare på denne reinen. Artikkelen gir en oversikt over slike arbeider: fra studier av begrensende faktorer på populasjonsnivå til studier av sesongmessige beiteplasser på individnivå. Hensikten er å få frem et mer helhetlig perspektiv på fjellvillreinen og finne hvordan de begrensende faktorene varierer etter skaleringen som er benyttet i studiet. Oversikten vår frembragte to viktige resultater; 1) Uansett skalering så velger dyrene gammel skog og gamle trær. 2) Dyrenes bruk av et område kan variere med benyttet skalering, for eksempel vil landskap utbygd med veier og hogstflater være ufordelaktig for overlevelsen, men synes likevel å kunne tiltrekke fjellvillreinen til visse tider av året. Forholdet mellom atferd ut fra fin-skalering og stor-skalering sårbarhet hva gjelder predasjon, ville kun blitt avdekket ved flere-skaleringsanalyse av hvordan ressursene benyttes. Ut fra dette foreslår vi at forvaltningsstrategier for truete bestander som eksempelvis fjellvillreinen, må baseres på tilnærminger ut fra ulike skaleringer for å hindre at et for snevert perspektiv kan begrense muligheten for vedvarende levedyktighet