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Despite anecdotal evidence of changes to tennis ball characteristics and play properties, little research has been directed towards understanding the causes and effects of tennis ball degradation. Improved racket technology and player fitness have contributed to an increase in the speed of the game, yet balls have seen few advancements over the same period. There are several obvious factors contributing to tennis ball degradation: natural pressure loss in pressurised balls, changes to the cloth covering due to court and racket impacts, and precipitation and environmental factors. As recent tennis research has focused on the new balls, there is a need to investigate other ball conditions present in the game of tennis. This thesis provides a structured investigation into the causes and effects of ball degradation, an objective assessment of the effects of degradation on ball performance, and incorporates subjective perceptions of all aesthetics and play properties noted by players. Particular attention is given to ball fuzziness. Excessive fuzziness can occur from manufacturing variability, court and racket interactions, and environmental conditions - though there is currently no standardised method to assess ball surface condition. An objective measure of ball fuzziness has been developed and used in the analysis of nearly 4000 individual ball images. The effects of court and racket impacts, precipitation, natural pressure loss, and repeated impacts have been analysed for their effects on ball degradation. An assessment of ball performance utilised ball impact and aerodynamic data to determine significant differences between balls and develop an improved ball trajectory model.

I set about exploring the history of Jambi batik with a view to establishing its nature, characteristics, methods of manufacture and function in its social context. A central aim of the study was to establish an accurate description of batiks from Jambi which could serve as a guide to museum cataloguers. In particular I planned to clarify the position regarding the red batiks. During the course of my investigations, I came across a similar confusion surrounding a group of batiks containing Arabic calligraphy. A further purpose of the study was then to determine which, if any, of these calligraphy batiks were made in Jambi. For those which did, my intention was to discover how they fitted into the social and economic context in which they were produced. This study has challenged a number of assumptions which have been made about batik in Indonesia. I have confronted static models and others which have focussed too narrowly on Javanese techniques and meanings. I have demonstrated the importance of approaching textiles from a perspective which recognises change and diversity. I have tried to emphasise the need to understand the central role of trade and colonial experience in relation to textiles in South-East Asia. I have also shown the need for taking into consideration the wider geographical context, beyond the Indonesian archipelago and beyond the notional boundaries of South-East Asia. Previous studies of Indonesian batik have tended to apply Javanese models to all of Indonesia. Indonesia was viewed with Java as the centre and the other regions as satellites to it: a Java-centric model which has marginalised batiks from Jambi. Finally, I believe I have shown the crucial importance of studying the technical aspects of textiles. Many other studies of textiles in South-East Asia have employed an anthropological perspective focusing almost exclusively on the symbolic to the neglect of the technical. This has resulted in a paucity of information which could help museum curators to identify both how and where the textiles were made. This lack of information made the study of textiles from Jambi, as it must do for many other marginalised places, particularly difficult. I hope that this study has not only revealed this problem, but has gone some way to remedy it.

No description available.

This thesis contextualizes the three series of work that I have produced for my MFA. My chief concerns are with the dynamic between the individual and the collective, and how this is symbolically represented in lists of names. I also suggest that an underlying sense of communitas, or equality, is evoked through lists of names. I explore this idea further in an examination of various memorials where the naming of those commemorated is a major element of the work. I then describe the work that I have made, and connect it to other artworks that also use lists of names in order to explore the idea of what it is to be both an individual and a member of a group. I suggest that artworks and memorials are potent as carriers of symbolic meaning because they allow space and time for contemplation. In addition to the use of names, I also look at artworks that use items that have belonged to people as substitutes for those people, and as metaphors for humanity. My work utilises human hair and socks, but other artists use different types of contiguous possessions as stand-ins for individuals. The examples are chosen to investigate the variety of tropes available for memorial designers and artists, and in order to see the way diverse materials can be used to investigate similar concerns.

Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Auburn University, 2006. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographic references.

Thesis (Ph.D.). / Title from title page of PDF (viewed 2008/01/30). Written for the Dept. of Mechanical Engineering. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--Ohio University, March, 1989. / Title from PDF t.p.