Energy Resilience in Nepal: Response and Future Directions after the 2015 Earthquake and 2015-2016 Blockade

The resilience of energy systems is not well considered in existing literature. This study seeks to inform this issue by investigating the response to the shocks which the energy systems of Nepal have recently faced. In April and May of 2015, major earthquakes devastated parts of central Nepal, and from September of the same year until February 2016, a trade blockade greatly restricted the import of goods from India, including petroleum fuels. Drawing upon extensive fieldwork amongst a range of stakeholders in Kathmandu, Nepal, this thesis analyses the experiences of different actors in the sector during and after these two key events. This thesis builds the concept of energy resilience using existing literature. This draws on energy security theory, resilience theory, and cultural theory. Using the concept, this thesis specifically looks at how different actors withstood, adapted and changed energy systems and the energy services they supply while experiencing realised risks to their system vulnerabilities. This approach allows energy resilience to be analysed in the response of Nepal’s electricity sector to the 2015 earthquake and the response of Nepal’s petroleum sector to the 2015-2016 blockade. To demonstrate the importance of performing this analysis using the energy resilience concept, this thesis brings forward thinking from energy security, energy poverty and energy justice literature to use as analytical tools when assessing the sector responses. This thesis argues that the impact of the earthquake was most severe for rural users, with the government operated grid users experiencing less persistent damage and a faster recovery process compared to rural uses. This inequality in the electricity sector therefore worsened energy justice issues, while the loss of electricity access for an estimated 600,000 households likely worsened energy poverty issues (NPC, 2015b). In the petroleum sector, the blockade demonstrated the vulnerability to Nepal’s energy security associated with relying on India as the sole supplier of petroleum fuels. However, this thesis also argues that the blockade was managed in a way which minimised adverse impacts to energy poverty and energy justice. Using the results of the sector response analyses alongside further stakeholder interviews, policy documents and existing literature, this thesis then concludes that Nepal’s energy future will be formed along three distinct axes of possibilities. In doing so, it is argued that Nepal’s energy future could have a distributed electricity sector, which would provide the greatest energy poverty and energy justice benefits. However, this future would be vulnerable to shocks like that which were experienced in the 2015 earthquake. Nepal may also have a regionally integrated energy sector that would provide access to an important electricity market and ensure electricity and petroleum demands will be met, but in doing so a reliance on India would remain. Lastly, Nepal could also reduce its reliance on fossil fuels by generating enough renewable electricity to meet domestic demand and minimising petroleum consumption growth. In this future, Nepal’s electricity generation would be vulnerable to climate and seismic related risks, but would provide the greatest benefits for sustainability related principles of energy justice

Seagrass Health Modeling and Prediction with NASA Science Data

Previous research has demonstrated that MODIS data products can be used as inputs into the seagrass productivity model developed by Fong and Harwell (1994). To further explore this use to predict seagrass productivity, Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) custom data products, including Sea Surface Temperature, Light Attenuation, and Chlorophyll-a have been created for use as model parameter inputs. Coastal researchers can use these MODIS data products and model results in conjunction with historical and daily assessment of seagrass conditions to assess variables that affect the productivity of the seagrass beds. Current monitoring practices involve manual data collection (typically on a quarterly basis) and the data is often insufficient for evaluating the dynamic events that influence seagrass beds. As part of a NASA-funded research grant, the University of Mississippi, is working with researchers at NASA and Radiance Technologies to develop methods to deliver MODIS derived model output for the northern Gulf of Mexico (GOM) to coastal and environmental managers. The result of the project will be a data portal that provides access to MODIS data products and model results from the past 5 years, that includes an automated process to incorporate new data as it becomes available. All model parameters and final output will be available through the use National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration?s (NOAA) Environmental Research Divisions Data Access Program (ERDDAP) tools as well as viewable using Thematic Realtime Environmental Distributed Data Services (THREDDS) and the Integrated Data Viewer (IDV). These tools provide the ability to create raster-based time sequences of model output and parameters as well as create graphs of model parameters versus time. This tool will provide researchers and coastal managers the ability to analyze the model inputs so that the factors influencing a change in seagrass productivity can be determined over time

Facial stereotypes and perceived mental illness

It is well established that we carry stereotypes that impact on human perception and behaviour (e.g. G.W. Allport, “The nature of prejudice”. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1954). Here, we investigate the possibility that we hold a stereotype for a face indicating that its owner may have a mental illness. A three-stage face-perception experiment suggested the presence of such a stereotype. Participants first rated 200 synthetic male faces from the EvoFIT facial-composite system for perceived mental illness (PMI). These faces were used to create a computer-based rating scale that was used by a second sample of participants to make a set of faces appear mentally ill. There was evidence to suggest that the faces that participants identified using the PMI scale differed along this dimension (although not entirely as expected). In the final stage of the study, another set of synthetic faces were created by artificially increasing and decreasing levels along the scale. Participants were asked to rate these items for PMI and for six criminal types. It was found that participants assigned higher PMI ratings (cf. veridical) for items with inflated PMI (although there was no reliable difference in ratings between veridical faces and faces with decreased PMI). Implications of the findings are discussed

Establishing an international computational network for librarians and archivists

Research and experimentation are underway in libraries, archives, and research institutions on various digital strategies, including computational methods and tools, to manage "Collections as Data." This involves new ways for librarians and archivists to manage, preserve, and provide access to their digital collections. A major component in this ongoing process is the education and training needed by information professionals to function effectively in the 21st century. Accessible and transferable infrastructure is a key requirement in creating a network of collaboration for information professionals to fully realize the full potential of managing "Collections as Data." Elements needed include: 1. Open source research and educational platforms to remove barriers to access to curation tools and resources. These are needed to deliver and share computational educational programs. 2. Creation of a Cloud-based student-learning environment. 3. Development of Open Source software architectures that use computational infrastructure. 4. Exploration of new pedagogies for educating librarians and archivists in computational methods and tools. 5. Establishment of a community of practice for developing collaborative projects, and liaising with the wider international iSchool community and practitioners in the field. Our "Blue Sky" proposal seeks to explore a number of these challenges (infrastructure, computation, collaboration, learning) that stimulate the iSchool research community and have the potential to jumpstart international collaborative networks. The goal is to establish an international computational network for supporting librarians and archivists, akin to the existing Sloan Foundation funded "Data Curation Network", which seeks to model a cross-institutional staffing approach for curating research data in digital repositories.Ope

Evolution of olivine lattice preferred orientation during simple shear in the mantle

Author Posting. © Elsevier B.V., 2008. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier B.V. for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters 272 (2008): 501-512, doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2008.03.063.Understanding the variation of olivine lattice preferred orientation (LPO) as a function of shear strain is important for models that relate seismic anisotropy to the kinematics of deformation. We present results on the evolution of olivine orientation as a function of shear strain in samples from a shear zone in the Josephine Peridotite (southwest Oregon). We find that the LPO in harzburgites re-orients from a pre-existing LPO outside the shear zone to a new LPO with the olivine [100] maximum aligned sub-parallel to the shear direction between 168% and 258% shear strain. The strain at which [100] aligns with the shear plane is slightly higher than that observed in experimental samples, which do not have an initial LPO. While our observations broadly agree with the experimental observations, our results suggest that a pre-existing LPO influences the strain necessary for LPO alignment with the shear direction. In addition, olivine re-alignment appears to be dominated by slip on both (010)[100] and (001)[100], due to the orientation of the pre-existing LPO. Fabric strengths, quantified using both the J- and M- indices, do not increase with increasing shear strain. Unlike experimental observations, our natural samples do not have a secondary LPO peak. The lack of a secondary peak suggests that subgrain rotation recrystallization dominates over grain boundary migration during fabric re-alignment. Harzburgites exhibit girdle patterns among [010] and [001] axes, while a dunite has point maxima. Combined with the observation that harzburgites are finer grained than dunites, we speculate that additional phases (i.e., pyroxenes) limit olivine grain growth and promote grain boundary sliding. Grain boundary sliding may relax the requirement for slip on the hardest olivine system, enhancing activation of the two easiest olivine slip systems, resulting in the [010] and [001] girdle patterns. Overall, our results provide an improved framework for calibration of LPO evolution models.This work was partly supported by NSF grants EAR-0230267 and EAR-0409609. Funding for fieldwork was provided by the WHOI Academic Programs Office as part of a 2003 field class run by P.B.K. and G.H

Variable response of three Trifolium repens ecotypes to soil flooding by seawater.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Despite concerns about the impact of rising sea levels and storm surge events on coastal ecosystems, there is remarkably little information on the response of terrestrial coastal plant species to seawater inundation. The aim of this study was to elucidate responses of a glycophyte (white clover, Trifolium repens) to short-duration soil flooding by seawater and recovery following leaching of salts. METHODS: Using plants cultivated from parent ecotypes collected from a natural soil salinity gradient, the impact of short-duration seawater soil flooding (8 or 24 h) on short-term changes in leaf salt ion and organic solute concentrations was examined, together with longer term impacts on plant growth (stolon elongation) and flowering. KEY RESULTS: There was substantial Cl(-) and Na(+) accumulation in leaves, especially for plants subjected to 24 h soil flooding with seawater, but no consistent variation linked to parent plant provenance. Proline and sucrose concentrations also increased in plants following seawater flooding of the soil. Plant growth and flowering were reduced by longer soil immersion times (seawater flooding followed by drainage and freshwater inputs), but plants originating from more saline soil responded less negatively than those from lower salinity soil. CONCLUSIONS: The accumulation of proline and sucrose indicates a potential for solute accumulation as a response to the osmotic imbalance caused by salt ions, while variation in growth and flowering responses between ecotypes points to a natural adaptive capacity for tolerance of short-duration seawater soil flooding in T. repens. Consequently, it is suggested that selection for tolerant ecotypes is possible should the predicted increase in frequency of storm surge flooding events occur

CLIMB-COVID: continuous integration supporting decentralised sequencing for SARS-CoV-2 genomic surveillance.

Funder: Wellcome TrustIn response to the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in the UK, the COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) consortium was formed to rapidly sequence SARS-CoV-2 genomes as part of a national-scale genomic surveillance strategy. The network consists of universities, academic institutes, regional sequencing centres and the four UK Public Health Agencies. We describe the development and deployment of CLIMB-COVID, an encompassing digital infrastructure to address the challenge of collecting and integrating both genomic sequencing data and sample-associated metadata produced across the COG-UK network

Plagioclase preferred orientation in layered mylonites : evaluation of flow laws for the lower crust

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution February 2008We evaluate the applicability of plagioclase and gabbro flow laws by comparing predicted and observed deformation mechanisms in gabbroic shear zones. Gabbros and layered gabbro mylonites were collected from the Southwest Indian Ridge (SWIR), ODP Hole 735B. Deformation temperatures are constrained by two-pyroxene thermometry, stress is estimated from grain size, and deformation mechanisms are analyzed by microstructure and the presence or absence of a lattice preferred orientation (LPO). Our analyses indicate that mylonite layers deformed at a strain rate in the range of 10-12 to 10- 11 s-1, while coarse-grained gabbro deformed at a strain rate of approximately 10-14 to 10- 13 s-1. Plagioclase in pure plagioclase mylonite layers exhibit strong LPOs indicating they deform by dislocation creep. Plagioclase grain size in mixed plagioclase-pyroxene mylonite layers is finer than in pure plagioclase layers, and depends on the size and proportion of pyroxenes. Progressive mixing of pyroxene and plagioclase within gabbro mylonite layers is accompanied by weakening of the LPO indicating that phase mixing promotes a transition to diffusion creep processes that involve grain boundary sliding. Our results indicate that experimental flow laws are accurate at geologic strain rates, although the strain rate for diffusion creep of fine-grained gabbro may be underestimated. At the conditions estimated for the SWIR crust, our calculations suggest that strain localization leads to a factor of two to four decrease in lower crustal viscosity. Even so, the viscosity of lower gabbroic crust is predicted to be similar to that of dry upper mantle

Seasonal and Ontogenetic Changes in Movement Patterns of Sixgill Sharks

Understanding movement patterns is fundamental to population and conservation biology. The way an animal moves through its environment influences the dynamics of local populations and will determine how susceptible it is to natural or anthropogenic perturbations. It is of particular interest to understand the patterns of movement for species which are susceptible to human activities (e.g. fishing), or that exert a large influence on community structure, such as sharks.We monitored the patterns of movement of 34 sixgill sharks Hexanchus griseus using two large-scale acoustic arrays inside and outside Puget Sound, Washington, USA. Sixgill sharks were residents in Puget Sound for up to at least four years before making large movements out of the estuary. Within Puget Sound, sixgills inhabited sites for several weeks at a time and returned to the same sites annually. Across four years, sixgills had consistent seasonal movements in which they moved to the north from winter to spring and moved to the south from summer to fall. Just prior to leaving Puget Sound, sixgills altered their behavior and moved twice as fast among sites. Nineteen of the thirty-four sixgills were detected leaving Puget Sound for the outer coast. Three of these sharks returned to Puget Sound.For most large marine predators, we have a limited understanding of how they move through their environment, and this clouds our ability to successfully manage their populations and their communities. With detailed movement information, such as that being uncovered with acoustic monitoring, we can begin to quantify the spatial and temporal impacts of large predators within the framework of their ecosystems