Developing and Testing a Novel Intervention to Reduce Household Food Waste

The amount of food wasted is a topic of societal and academic interest. As academic research in this area is nascent, there are significant knowledge gaps, which this dissertation seeks to narrow, pertaining to: (1) the measurement of food waste; (2) the human behaviors that lead to wasting of food; and (3) the development of efficacious food waste reduction interventions. A systematic literature review of 55 food waste estimates showed that on average 114.3 kg/capita/year is wasted from consumption (i.e., household) and 198.9 kg/capita/year across the entire food supply chain. There is considerable uncertainty with this data because of the different food waste measurements methodologies employed. Household waste composition study data (2012-2015) from 9 Ontario municipalities, that used the same direct measurement methodology and included a single “food waste” category, were aggregated and analyzed to develop estimates of food waste in the garbage stream. This methodology, which showed households disposed 2.40 kg/week of food waste in the garbage, was used as the basis of a bespoke household food waste measurement methodology. To better understand food wasting behavior and facilitate the development of an effective intervention the theory of planned behavior (TPB) was used to inform the development of a survey, which was administered to households in London, Ontario, Canada. Households (n=1,263) threw out avoidable food 4.8 times/week and perceived behavioral control (p A “Reduce Food Waste, Save Money” household intervention, which combined elements of behavioral economics (nudging the desire to reduce monetary loss) and the TPB (strengthening perceived behavioral control), was developed, tested and assessed in a randomized control trial. Treatment total household food waste decreased by 31% and this was significantly greater (p=0.02) than for control households. Key determinants of avoidable food waste reduction included personal attitudes, perceived behavioral control, the number of people in a household and the amount of garbage set out. This research can contribute directly to food waste reduction policy in national, provincial, and municipal contexts

Simulations of Adaptive Optics with a Laser Guide Star for SINFONI

The SINFONI instrument for ESO's VLT combines integral field spectroscopy and adaptive optics (AO). We discuss detailed simulations of the adaptive optics module. These simulations are aimed at assessing the AO module performance, specifically for operations with extended sources and a laser guide star. Simulated point spread function (PSF) images will be used to support scientific preparations and the development of an exposure time calculator, while simulated wavefront sensor measurements will be used to study PSF reconstruction methods. We explain how the adaptive optics simulations work, focusing on the realistic modelling of the laser guide star for a curvature wavefront sensor. The predicted performance of the AO module is discussed, resulting in recommendations for the operation of the SINFONI AO module at the telescope.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, to appear in SPIE conference proceedings vol 5490, "Advancements in Adaptive Optics", eds. D. Bonaccini, B.L. Ellerbroek, R. Ragazonni, Glasgow UK, 21-25 June 200

First CO J=6-5, 4-3 detections in local ULIRGs: the dense gas in Mrk231, and its colling budget

We report on detections of the high-excitation CO J=6-5, J=4-3 lines in Mrk231, a prototypical Ultra Luminous Infrared Galaxy (ULIRG) and Seyfert 1 QSO. These observations are combined with CO J=3-2, HCN J=4-3 (this work), and CO J=2-1, J=1-0, 13CO J=2-1, HCN J=1-0 measurements taken from the literature to provide better constraints on the properties of the molecular gas in an extreme starburst/QSO in the local Universe. We find that the CO J=4-3 and J=6-5 transitions trace a different gas phase from that dominating the lower three CO transitions, with n(H_2) ~ (1-3)x10^4 cm-3 and Tk ~ (40-70) K. This phase is responsible for the luminous HCN emission, and contains most of the H2 gas mass of this galaxy. The total CO line cooling emanating from this dense phase is found similar to that of the [CII] line at 158 micron, suggesting a very different thermal balance to that seen in lower IR-luminosity galaxies, and one likely dominated by dense photon-dominated regions. Our dense "sampling" of the CO rotational ladder and the HCN lines enables us to produce well-constrained Spectral Line Energy Distributions (SLEDs) for the dense molecular gas in Mrk231 and compare them to those of high redshift starbursts, many of which have SLEDs that may be affected by strong lensing. Finally, we use our local molecular line excitation template to assess the capabilities of future cm and mm/sub-mm arrays in detecting CO and HCN transitions in similar systems throughout the local and distant universe.Comment: accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal; 37 pages, preprint format; 5 figures (2 in color