346 research outputs found

    Epistemological Disobedience in a Tasty World: An Auto-Ethnography on Food as an Instrument of Dissent Against Western Epistemology

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    This thesis is a journey of dissent, an exploration of the counter-movements against the business-as-usual illustrated by the means of food. It relates my intense odyssey as student dealing with her own research process while diving into the fabulous tasty realm of food resistance. I aim through my words to demonstrate the significant potential of food as an instrument of dissent, of resistance against the current Western mainstream epistemology. Facing a multiplicity of crises, the humanity is running full speed in a wall. To stop this mad dash, I suggest that we need both 'ecological activism'—mind and hands—performed through the means of food. While the story of food as a desired mere object of domination is often related through impersonal economical and political studies, the very methodological framework of this thesis provides a more personal perspective, an evocative account. Auto-ethnography immerses the reader into a first-person personal narrative enriched with critical and theoretical reflections on my exploration of food activism. At the same time, this methodology is also an instrument of dissent, a form of epistemic resistance that challenges the traditional research inquiry, and to a larger extent the Western epistemology too

    Spatio-temporal variability of tidal-stream energy in north-western Europe

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    Initial selection of tidal stream energy sites is primarily based on identifying areas with the maximum current speeds. However, optimal design and deployment of turbines requires detailed investigations of the temporal variability of the available resource, focusing on areas with reduced variability, and hence the potential for more continuous energy supply. These aspects are investigated here for some of the most promising sites for tidal array development across the north-western European shelf seas: the Alderney Race, the Fromveur Strait, the Pentland Firth and the channels of Orkney. Particular attention was dedicated to asymmetry between the flood and ebb phases of the tidal cycle (due to the phase relationship between M(2) and M(4) constituents), and spring-neap variability of the available resource (due to M(2) and S(2) compound tides). A series of high-resolution models were exploited to (i) produce a detailed harmonic database of these three components, and (ii) characterize, using energy resource metrics, temporal variability of the available power density. There was a clear contrast between the Alderney Race, with reduced temporal variability over semi-diurnal and fortnightly time scales, and sites in western Brittany and North Scotland which, due to increased variability, appeared less attractive for optimal energy conversion. This article is part of the theme issue ‘New insights on tidal dynamics and tidal energy harvesting in the Alderney Race’

    A review of tidal energy - Resource, feedbacks, and environmental interactions

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    International audienceThe ocean contains a variety of renewable energy resources, little of which has been exploited. Here, we review both tidal range and tidal stream energy, with a focus on the resource, feedbacks, and environmental interactions. The review covers a wide range of timescales of relevance to tidal energy, from fortnightly (spring-neap) and semi-diurnal variability, down to array, and device-scale turbulence. When simulating the regional tidal energy resource, and to assess environmental impacts, it is necessary to account for feedbacks between the tidal array and the resource itself. We critically review various methods for simulating energy extraction, from insights gained through theoretical studies of “tidal fences” in idealized channels, to realistic three-dimensional model studies with complex geometry and arrays of turbines represented by momentum sinks and additional turbulence due to the presence of rotors and support structures. We discuss how variability can be reduced by developing multiple (aggregated) sites with a consideration of the enhanced phase diversity offered by exploiting less energetic tidal currents. This leads to future research questions that have not yet been explored in depth at first-generation tidal sites in relatively sheltered channels (e.g., the interaction of waves with currents). Such enhanced understanding of real sea conditions, including the effects of wind and waves, leads to our other identified primary future research direction—reduced uncertainties in turbulence predictions, including the development of realistic models that simulate the interaction between ambient turbulence and the turbulence resulting from multiple wakes, and changes to system-wide hydrodynamics, water quality, and sedimentation

    Breeding together, wintering oceans apart: divergent migratory movements of thick-billed and common murres from St Lawrence Island, Northern Bering Sea

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    The Tenth Symposium on Polar Science/Ordinary sessions: [OB] Polar Biology, Wed. 4 Dec. / 3F Multipurpose conference room, National Institute of Polar Researc

    On the use of linear stability model to characterize the morphological behaviour of a double bar system. Application to Truc Vert Beach (France).

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    10 pages, 9 figures, 3 tableauxInternational audienceSandy barred beaches are often characterized by the presence of rhythmic patterns such as crescentic bars. In this paper, a linear stability analysis (LSA) model is used to characterize the morphological behaviour of the double bar system of Truc Vert beach. Using a limited number of combination of representative bathymetries, wave classes and water levels, the morphodynamic response of the system is analysed, focussing on the geometrical characteristics of 3D patterns generated with the model. These characteristics are described and then compared with available observations. The shapes and the wavelengths of the instabilities predicted by the model compare well with field observations. Thus, the use of linear stability model, with representative hydrodynamic conditions and bathymetries of the considered site, allows a characterization of the global morphodynamic behaviour of a double-barred system

    Disentangling the migration phases during the non-breeding period reveals uneven carry-over effects to the subsequent breeding in a diving seabird

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    第6回極域科学シンポジウム[OB] 極域生物圏11月16日(月) 統計数理研究所 セミナー室1(D305

    Detailed foraging behavior of Adelie penguins from Adelie Land, East Antarctica, revealed by video and accelerometry loggers

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    第6回極域科学シンポジウム[OB] 極域生物圏11月16日(月) 国立極地研究所1階交流アトリウ

    Three-dimensional modelling of turbine wake interactions at a tidal stream energy site

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    One of the biggest uncertainties in tidal stream energy resource assessment is how tidal energy conversion, particularly at large scale, will interact with the resource. As few arrays are currently operational, data collected from these developments tends to be commercially sensitive. Therefore, array interaction with the resource is generally assessed using numerical models. A fully three-dimensional numerical approach based on Actuator Disk theory was implemented into the Regional Ocean Modelling System (ROMS) to simulate the energy extraction by tidal stream turbines. Emphasis was placed on wake interactions and cumulative effects of individual devices on energy extraction at array scale. This model was applied at the tidal stream energy site of the Fromveur Strait (western Brittany, France) considering an array of horizontal-axis turbines of 10-m diameter, matching the device technology currently operating in the Strait. Two tidal energy metrics were considered to describe asymmetries in tidal current magnitude and direction. The area with reduced asymmetry in current magnitude was selected to implement the turbine array. A nested grid technique was adopted to cascade processes from the regional scale to the high-resolution local farm domain. The computation was conducted over the inner-nested array domain covering the tidal farm with horizontal and vertical resolutions of 1 m, matching the 1/10th turbine diameter (D) recommended to resolve velocity and turbulence intensity along device wakes. The array layout initially followed recommended staggered configurations with longitudinal and lateral spacings of 10D and 5D, respectively. However, during mean spring tidal conditions, the misalignment of peak flood currents induced significant wake interactions that reduced the array output by about 15% in comparison to peak ebb. These interactions were investigated to adapt array layouts, minimise wake interactions, and optimise the energy conversion. By reducing the lateral spacing between devices to 3D (measured centre to centre rather than tip to tip), the flood ebb asymmetry in energy extraction was lowered from 15% to 2%

    Numerical modelling of hydrodynamics and tidal energy extraction in the Alderney Race: a review

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    (IF 4.23; Q1)International audienceThe tides are a predictable, renewable, source of energy that if harnessed, can provide significant levels of electricity generation. Alderney Race, with current speeds that exceed 5 m/s during spring tides, is one of the most concentrated regions of tidal energy in the world, with the upper bound resource estimated at 5.1 GW. Due to its significance, the Alderney Race is frequently used for model case studies of tidal energy conversion, and here we review these model applications and outcomes. We examine a range of temporal and spatial modelling scales, from regional models applied to resource assessment and characterisation, to more detailed models that include energy extraction and array optimization. We also examine a range of physical processes that influence the tidal energy resource, including the role of waves and turbulence in tidal energy resource assessment and loadings on turbines. The review discusses model validation, and covers a range of numerical modelling approaches, from 2D to 3D tidal models, two-way coupled wave-tide models, Large Eddy Simulation (LES) models, and the application of optimization techniques. The review contains guidance on model approaches and sources of data that can be used for future studies of the Alderney Race, or translated to other tidal energy regions
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