La densité epsilon0 de la matière nucléaire ordinaire est de l'ordre de 0,17 GeV/fm^3 . Lorsqu’ elle atteint une densité comprise entre 5 à 10 epsilon0 ou une température comprise entre 150 à 200 MeV, une transition de phase, prédite par la ChromoDynamique Quantique sur réseau, vers un nouvel état de la matière se produit. Cet état dans lequel les quarks et les gluons sont déconfinés et peuvent se mouvoir librement est appelé Plasma de Quarks et de Gluons (PQG). Les collisions d’ions lourds ultra-relativistes au Large Hadron Collider (LHC) permettront de recréer les conditions de formation d’un tel état. L’étude du PQG au LHC se fera essentiellement avec l’expérience ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) dont le spectromètre à muons est conçu pour observer dans le canal muonique, sur un domaine de pseudo-rapidité -4 < eta < -2.5, la suppression des résonances lourdes (J/psi,Upsilon) par écrantage de couleur à travers leurs décroissance en muons.La première partie de ce travail porte sur les corrections d’acceptance et d’efficacité qui sont indispensables pour les analyses de physique. Cette étude a montré que le processus de correction est indépendant des distributions choisies.La seconde partie de cette thèse porte sur l’analyse du J/psi dans les collisions proton+proton à sqrt(s) = 7 TeV. / The ordinary nuclear matte density epsilon0 is around de 0,17 GeV/fm^3 . For a critical value between 5 and 10 epsilon0 or a temperature around 150 to 200 MeV, the lattice Quantum ChromoDynamics (lQCD) predicts a phase transition from the classical matter to a new state of matter called the Quark Gluon Plasma (QGP). In this state, quarks and gluons behave like free particles. Heavy ions collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) are used to recreate the condition needed for a QGP formation. ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) is one of the LHC experiment dedicated to the study the QGP. One of the possible signature is the suppression of the quarkonia (J/psi, Upsilon) by color screening. The ALICE muon spectrometer allows to measure the quarkonia, in a pseudo-rapidity domain -4 < eta < -2.5, using their decay into muons.The first part of the report presents the acceptance and efficiency corrections. These corrections are crucial for the analysis. This study has shown that the correction process is independent from the selected distribution used for the correction.The second part describes the analysis of the J/psi in proton+proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV.

Dans le cadre du Modèle Standard de la physique des particules, les constituants élémentaires de la matière identifiés à ce jour sont les quarks et les gluons, génériquement appelés partons et soumis à l'interaction forte, décrite par la chromodynamique quantique (QCD). Si les partons sont confinés dans les hadrons sous des conditions normales de température et de densité, l'existence d'un état déconfiné, le plasma de quarks et de gluons (QGP), a été prédite par la QCD pour des conditions thermodynamiques extrêmes. Cet état de la matière peut être atteint dans le cadre de collisions d'ions lourds ultrarelativistes telles qu'en produit le grand collisionneur de hadrons du CERN (LHC), et sondé à l'aide de multiples observables auxquelles peut accéder l'expérience ALICE en particulier. Les photons prompts, issus de processus partoniques de haute énergie, constituent à ce titre une sonde privilégiée de la matière hadronique. Insensibles à l'interaction forte, ils peuvent traverser le milieu déconfiné en conservant les informations primaires d'une collision et représentent ainsi une référence précieuse a priori non affectée par le QGP. Ces photons peuvent être identifiés à l'aide de techniques de calorimétrie électromagnétique et d'isolement. Dans le cadre de cette thèse de doctorat, la production de photons isolés a été mesurée dans des collisions proton-proton et proton-plomb avec l'expérience ALICE. Les résultats obtenus sont compatibles avec des prédictions de QCD, y compris dans un régime cinématique inexploré jusqu'alors par cette observable. / In the Standard Model of particle physics, elementary constituents of matter identified to date are quarks and gluons, generically called partons and obeying the strong interaction described by quantum chromodynamics (QCD). While partons are confined in hadrons under standard temperature and density conditions, the existence of a deconfined state, quark-gluon plasma (QGP), has been predicted by QCD for extreme thermodynamic conditions. This state of matter can be reached in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions such as produced at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and can be probed with many observables accessible to the ALICE experiment in particular. Prompt photons, emitted by high-energy partonic processes, constitute a key probe of hadronic matter. Insensitive to the strong interaction they can traverse the deconfined medium preserving primary information about a collision, and thus represent a valuable reference not affected by QGP a priori. These photons can be identified with electromagnetic calorimetry and isolation techniques. Within this doctoral thesis, the isolated photon production has been measured in proton-proton and proton-lead collisions with the ALICE experiment. The results are in agreement with QCD predictions, including in a kinematic range unexplored by this observable thus far.

Les collisions d'ions lourds ultra-relativistes sont considérées comme un outil unique pour produire, enlaboratoire, un milieu chaud et dense interagissant fortement, le Plasma de Quarks etde Gluons (PQG). Cette thèse est dédiée à l’étude de deux sondes, les J/ψ et les bosons Z, qui peuvent aider àatteindre une meilleure compréhension des propriétés du PQG.Dans les collisions d’ions lourds, il existe une observable importante pour étudier la formation du PQG, c’est lamesure de la production des J/ψ. L’importance des différents effets qui peuvent augmenter ou supprimer cetteproduction varie avec l’énergie de la collision. Dans cette thèse, la production des J/ψ est mesurée avec lescollisions Pb-Pb à √sNN =5.02 TeV, en utilisant principalement le spectromètre à muons du détecteur ALICE. Lefacteur de modification nucléaire des J/ψ est présenté en fonction de la centralité des collisions, la rapidité etl’impulsion transversale (pT). En outre, les résultats sur le pT moyen du J/ψ sont présentés. La comparaison entreles résultats expérimentaux et divers calculs théoriques suggère que la production du J/ψ est affectée dans le milieupar deux processus concurrents : le dissociation et le régénération.Dans les collisions d’ions lourds, l'état initial de la collision peut aussi affecter les résultats, en l'absence deformation du PQG. La compréhension et la quantification des tels effets est crucial pour les séparer de ceuxprovoqués par la présence du PQG. Un de ces effets est la modification nucléaire des fonctions de distribution despartons (PDFs). La mesure de production du boson Z dans les collisions d’ions lourds est un outil puissant pourétudier la modification nucléaire des PDFs car il n’est pas affectés par la présence d'une matière en forteinteraction. La seconde partie de cette thèse est dévolue à la mesure de la production des bosons Z, pour lapremière fois dans ALICE, avec les collisions p-Pb et Pb-Pb à √sNN =5.02 TeV. Dans les collisions Pb-Pb où laprécision de la mesure est plus élevée, l'accord entre les données et des calculs théoriques est meilleur lorsque cesderniers prennent en compte la modification nucléaire des PDFs. / Ultra relativistic heavy-ion collisions are considered as a unique tool to produce, in the laboratory, thehot and dense strongly-interacting medium, the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP). This thesis is dedicated to the studyof two powerful probes, the J/ψ and Z-boson, that can help reaching a better understanding of the properties of theQGP.An important observable to study the QGP formation in heavy-ion collisions is the measurement of the J/ψproduction. The sizes of the different effects that can enhance or suppress this production vary with the collisionenergy. In this thesis, the J/ψ production is measured in Pb-Pb collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV using mainly themuon spectrometer of the ALICE detector. The J/ψ nuclear modification factor is presented as a function ofcollision centrality, rapidity and transverse momentum (pT). In addition, results on the J/ψ average pT and squaredaverage pT are also obtained. The comparison between the results and various theoretical calculations suggests thatthe J/ψ production is affected in the medium by an interplay between dissociation and regeneration mechanisms.In heavy-ion collisions, the initial state of the collision can affect the results even in the absence of the QGP.Understanding and quantifying such effects is crucial in order to separate them from the ones caused by thepresence of the QGP. One of these effects is the nuclear modification of the parton distribution functions (PDFs).The measurement of Z-boson production in heavy-ion collisions is a powerful tool to study the nuclearmodification of PDFs since it is not affected by the presence of the strongly-interacting medium. The second partof this thesis is devoted to measure the Z-boson production, for the first time with ALICE, in p-Pb and Pb-Pbcollisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV. In Pb-Pb collisions where the precision of the measurement is higher, the agreementbetween data and theoretical calculations is better when the latter take into account the nuclear modification of thePDFs.

L’expérience ALICE au CERN examine l’état de la matière QCD chaude et dense créée lors de collisions d’ions lourds ultra-relativistes - le plasma de Quark Gluon (QGP). En raison de sa courte durée de vie, le QGP ne peut être étudié que via ses signatures.La suppression de J/ψ a été proposée comme preuve de la formation du milieu déconfiné.Néanmoins, il est devenu évident que la réalité est bien plus complexe, car il existe d’autres mécanismes concurrents qui affectent la production de J/ψ . Pour comprendre quels effets agissant sur la production de J/ψ dans les collisions noyau-noyau résultent véritablement de la présence du QGP, ALICE étudie également la production de J/ψ en collisions pp et p–Pb. Le QGP ne devrait pas se former dans ces systèmes. De plus, les mesures de la production de J/ψ dans les collisions p–Pb peuvent révéler des informations sur les effets provenant de la liaison des nucléons dans le noyau, appelés effets de la matière nucléaire froide (CNM). L’objectif de cette thèse est d’étudier la production de J/ψ à rapidité vers l’avant avec le spectromètre à muons ALICE. La section efficace de production J/ψ inclusive dans les collisions pp à √s = 5.02 TeV,et sa dépendance en pT et en rapidité, ont été examinées et comparées à des calculs théoriques ainsi qu’ à des mesures à d’autres énergies du LHC. Les données sont bien décrites par la somme des calculs de pQCD pour les J/ψ prompts et de FONLL pour les J/ψ non-prompts. La production différentielle en multiplicité des J/ψ a été étudiée dans les collisions p–Pb et Pb–p à √sNN = 8,16 TeV, ainsi que le moment transvers moyen. La mesure montre un comportement dépendant de la rapidité pour les taux de production relatifs des J/ψ . Le moment transvers moyen des J/ψ est par contre identique dans les deux intervalles de rapidité mesurés. La nouvelle analyse a augmenté la précision et étendu la mesure à des multiplicités plus élevées par rapport à la mesure précédente à √sNN = 5,02 TeV. Nous constatons que les taux de production relatifs et le <pti> relatif sont indépendants de l’énergie du centre de masse. / The ALICE experiment at CERN probesthe state of hot and dense QCD matter created in ultrarelativisticheavy ion collisions - the Quark GluonPlasma (QGP). Due to its short lifetime, the QGP canbe studied only via its signatures. The suppression ofJ/ ψ was proposed as a proof of formation of the deconfinedmedium. Nevertheless, it became clear thatthe real picture is far more complex as there are othercompeting mechanisms affecting the J/ ψ production.To understand which effects acting on the J/ productionin nucleus-nucleus collisions truly stem fromthe presence of the QGP, ALICE also studies the productionof J/ψ in pp and p–Pb collisions. The QGP isexpected not to form in these systems. Furthermore,measurements of the J/ ψ production in p–Pb collisionscan unveil information on the effects originatingfrom the binding of the nucleons in the nucleus, referredto as the cold nuclear matter effects (CNM).The objective of this thesis is to study the productionof J/ ψ at forward rapidity with the ALICE Muon Spectrometer.The inclusive J/ ψ production cross sectionin pp collisions at √s = 5.02 TeV, and its dependenceon pT and rapidity, were examined and compared withtheoretical calculations as well as measurement atother LHC energies. The data are well described bya sum of pQCD calculations for prompt and FONLLcalculations for non-prompt contribution. The multiplicitydifferential J/ ψ production was studied in p–Pband Pb–p collisions at √sNN = 8.16 TeV, as well asits mean transverse momentum. The measurementshows a rapidity dependent behaviour of relative J/ ψ yields. The J/ ψ mean transverse momentum on theother hand is identical in the two measured rapidityintervals. The new analysis increased the precisionand extended the measurement to higher multiplicitiescompared to previous measurement at √sNN =5.02 TeV. We find that both relative yields and relative<pti> are independent of centre-of-mass energy.

An introduction to Alice scholarship, including a brief biography of the author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll, as well as the subject matter. An examination of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland's genre, as well as an in-depth analysis of the text as a children's story.

In her article “Visual pleasure and narrative cinema” (1975) Laura Mulvey explains how film portrays the female characters as passive sexualised objects, on display for the male (erotic) gaze. Although, Mulvey did make amendments to the original article after it was criticised, her original article is still influential and referenced in academic writing on film. This dissertation investigates how the three selected mainstream American films, namely, Alice in Wonderland, Monster and Transamerica, have female protagonists who deviate from Mulvey’s initial standpoint and enact a new dynamic, whereby the female characters possess active bodies. In order to explain this new dynamic, the dissertation provides an overview of relevant theory in order to establish the necessary analytical tools to investigate the representation of the female body. These tools are taken from feminist notions of the body, most importantly Mulvey’s notions, in order to establish what constitutes an active female body that subverts the male gaze. This subversion is most notable when examining the iconography of the active female body. The dissertation also draws from the overview the importance of place and space, the embodiment of the characters’ inner workings in specific locations, and their relationship with the locations in which they are depicted. Since all three films include a physical journey on which the respective protagonists embark the examination of borders and border crossings is included. The dissertation shows that journeys bring with them the opportunity for the body to be active, as each female protagonist is on a journey to self-discovery. The changing settings in which the protagonists find themselves are an embodiment of their inner workings. Topographical borders mark the entering of new locations. However, concomitant symbolic and epistemological borders are also crossed. The female protagonists need to make choices concerning their lives and as a consequence alter the representations to reflect bodies that subvert the male gaze. These female bodies are active. However, they are active in different ways. Alice, from Alice in Wonderland, delves into her psyche to emerge a changed and independent Victorian woman. Bree, from Transamerica, heals the relationships with her family and is able to have her gender reconstructive surgery to become a physical woman. These two female protagonists have positive representations of the active female body. The protagonist from Monster, Aileen, is represented in a constant state of abjection and her active body is portrayed in a negative light. Whether represented in a positive or egative light, these chosen films all portray an active female body that does subvert the male gaze, and hence represent a new dynamic different from the one Mulvey described. / MA (Language Practice), North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2014

The thesis investigates the ways in which James Baldwin, Alice Walker and Toni Morrison’s fictional portrayals of forms of love, eroticism and sexuality that are excluded or prohibited by social norms, destabilise heteronormativity as the only legitimate option for non-harmful and pleasurable sensual and sexual expression. It aims to situate Baldwin, Walker and Morrison in a continuum of African American authors, beginning with Harlem Renaissance writer Bruce Nugent – the first African American writer to openly explore the relationship between homosexuality and Blackness – that have examined the intertwining issues of transgressive sexuality and race in increasingly explicit ways. By highlighting the ways in which Baldwin, Walker and Morrison decentre heteronormativity, the project aims to uncover how their novels expose the systems of power and knowledge by which racial forms of oppression are maintained, thereby debunking both the notion of Black “authenticity” and Black sexual stereotypes. Finally, the project hopes to show how the process of “queering” heteronormativity in these ways effectively serves to legitimise all forms of love, eroticism and sexuality that are non-harmful, opening up a new trajectory for contemporary twentieth-century authors who delve into these themes. Theoretical Approach: The thesis will argue for a queer reading of Baldwin, Walker and Morrison’s novels that underscores the writers’ treatment of sexuality as a discursive construct. Specifically, this theoretical perspective looks to their legitimisation of alternative forms of love, eroticism and sexuality that are non-harmful – a process that, in each case, serves to counteract and denaturalise White heteronormativity as the only rightful option for sexual desire and practice. Through this approach, the thesis strives to reveal how by working to legitimise such taboo expressions, these writers deconstruct the idea of the “other” as aberrant, thus calling attention to the specific political and moral systems by which love, eroticism and sexuality are judged in the modern Western world. Chapter Break Down: Chapters one and two of the project situate my argument in the context of critical earlier American writing encompassing canonical fiction, including political protest and African American folklorist novels, political polemics, Puritan captivity narratives, slave narratives, political essays, and experimentalist fiction. Together, these chapters provide a detailed overview of discourses surrounding sexuality, considering what is socially determined to be sexually “perverse” as a shifting concept, the meaning of which changes in tandem with changes in social and historical context. They also extensively analyse Black cultural specificity, examining both the sociological genesis of Black sexual stereotypes that led in part to the justification of the modern slave trade and the subsequent impact of slavery on African American sexual practices. In chapter three, the literary analysis begins with a consideration of the broadened possibilities of sexual acceptability Baldwin puts forth in his anti-protest style of fiction, by examining relationships between characters that do not fit conventional racial or sexual stereotypes, their social contexts, and the narrative perspectives employed by the author. Chapter four examines how Walker’s work carries forward Baldwin’s ideas, by further opening up the spectrum of socially acceptable forms of love, eroticism and sexuality through her presentation of an even wider array of erotically transgressive characters, and her effort to write about them during sustained periods of American conservatism. In chapter five, I examine how Morrison complicates the traditional understanding of what constitutes legitimate sexuality by infusing positive elements into sensual and sexual acts that appear to be nothing other than violent, illegal or psychologically regressive, thereby exposing the impact of social and historical context on the individual, further emphasising the changing and discursive nature of sexuality. The thesis finally argues that Baldwin, Walker and Morrison’s particular depictions of alternative sexuality roll back into a bigger idea of human experience that claims as necessary a re-thinking of social norms based on ethical considerations, rather than arbitrary social codes of morality that lead to both racial and sexual discrimination. Their novels thus ultimately involve us in human issues of justice and responsibility beyond the boundaries of race and sexuality.

Home: A Memoir, a creative non-fiction thesis, is a memoir in the form of personal essays, each exploring some aspect of the meaning of home, how my sense of self has been formed by my relationship to home, and the inevitability of leaving home. Chapter I explores the nature of memory and of memoir, their relationship to each other and to truth, and how a writer's voice shapes memoir. Chapter II, “Paternity,” is an attempt to remember my father, resulting in renewed interest in his past and renewed awareness of his legacy. Chapter III, “Home,” is on the surface about my grandparents' house, but is really about my grandmother. Chapter IV, “Dixie,” is about my contradictory feelings for the South, and my eventual acceptance of the South's complexities.

I den här uppsatsen analyseras ikonotexten, det vill säga den helhetsbild som uppstår av text och bild i samspel, i Tove Janssons Pappan och havet (1965) och den utgåva av Alice i underlandet (1966) i ny svensk översättning, som hon illustrerade under sextiotalets mitt. Uppsatsen ämnar att genom en komparativ analys, undersöka hur en framställning där Tove Jansson både skrivit och illustrerat, förhåller sig till ett verk där hon enbart varit illustratör – och vilken påverkan det har på ikonotexten. Studien visar hur Jansson på flera sätt, i sitt eget verk såväl som Carrolls berättelse, fördjupar läsförståelsen genom ikonotexten. I samspelet kan både likheter och skillnader urskiljas. Janssons illustrationer används till exempel som förmedlare av stämningar i båda böckerna. Ikonotexten i Pappan och havet betonar dock i hög grad karaktärernas inre känsloliv, medan den i Alice i underlandet förmedlar handlingens surrealism och irrationella drömflöde. Vidare förtydligas där även yttre karaktärsdrag, då Carrolls text har luckor i sin karaktärsskildring som Jansson fyller visuellt.

This monograph provides an in-depth examination of the background, musical, and performance issues related to Duke Ellington’s wordless melodies, as well as epigrammatic biographies of Ellington and three female vocalists whose voices he employed as instruments: Adelaide Hall, Kay Davis, and Alice Babs. As early as the twenties, Ellington innovatively used the voice as a wordless instrumental color—an idea he extended into both his secular and sacred works. His iconoclastic instrumentalization of the soprano voice in compositions such as “Creole Love Call”, “Minnehaha”, “Transblucency”, “On a Turquoise Cloud”, and “T.G.G.T.” merits consideration by scholars and performers alike; these artistically complex melodies offer valuable insights into Ellington’s organic and collaborative compositional process. Although Ellington’s wordless melodies for the soprano voice have fallen on the periphery of discussions on twentieth-century American music, perhaps out of sheer obscurity, the need for alternative teaching and performance materials gives rise to a host of topics for further study regarding these pieces. Assimilating Ellington’s programmatic and mood pieces for the instrumentalized soprano voice into the canon of chamber repertoire opens a new arena of scholarly and artistic endeavor for the trained singer. Therefore, central to this study are the following considerations: context, pedagogical challenges (range, tessitura, vowels, phrase length, etc.) nature of accompaniment and instrumentation, form, and the nature of Ellington’s vocal writing as it pertains to the wordless obbligato and concert works featuring the wordless voice including, “Minnehaha,” “Transblucency,” “On A Turquoise Cloud,” and “T.G.T.T.” aka “Too Good To Title.” This study evaluates Ellington’s technique of casting the wordless female voice in unique musical contexts via musical analysis, as well as pedagogical and interpretive assessments of selected Ellington pieces,. The resultant amalgam of musical identities, both instrumental and vocal, fostered creative polyphony and epitomized the coined “Ellington Effect.” The following analysis centers on a chronological survey of Ellington’s wordless melodies performed and recorded by Adelaide Hall, Kay Davis, and Alice Babs. The goal of this project is to present a study in historical context and significance, style, device, and pedagogical/performance considerations of those works that employ the flexibility, technique, and aural training of the studied singer with instrumental jazz idioms in a cross-genre context.