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Tokyo, 2083. When a loner detective is hired by an injured amnesiac to recover her identity, he’s forced to dive into his own haunted past.

No / Cardiac x-ray detectors are used to acquire moving images in real-time for angiography and interventional procedures. Detective quantum efficiency (DQE) is not generally measured on these dynamic detectors; the required “for processing” image data and control of x-ray settings have not been accessible. By 2016, USA hospital physicists will have the ability to measure DQE and will likely utilize the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standard for measuring DQE of dynamic x-ray imaging devices. The current IEC standard requires an image of a tilted tungsten edge test object to obtain modulation transfer function (MTF) for DQE calculation. It specifies the range of edge angles to use; however, it does not specify a preferred method to determine this angle for image analysis. The study aimed to answer the question “will my choice in method impact my results?” Four different established edge angle determination methods were compared to investigate the impact on DQE. Methods: Following the IEC standard, edge and flat field images were acquired on a cardiac flat-panel detector to calculate MTF and noise power spectrum, respectively, to determine DQE. Accuracy of the methods in determining the correct angle was ascertained using a simulated edge image with known angulations. Precision of the methods was ascertained using variability of MTF and DQE, calculated via bootstrapping. Results: Three methods provided near equal angles and the same MTF while the fourth, with an angular difference of 6%, had a MTF lower by 3% at 1.5 mm−1 spatial frequency and 8% at 2.5 mm−1; corresponding DQE differences were 6% at 1.5 mm−1 and 17% at 2.5 mm−1; differences were greater than standard deviations in the measurements. Conclusions: DQE measurements may vary by a significant amount, depending on the method used to determine the edge angle when following the IEC standard methodology for a cardiac x-ray detector. The most accurate and precise methods are recommended for absolute assessments and reproducible measurements, respectively. / Funded by Philips Healthcare, NL, and a University of Leeds Career Development Bursery.

阿嘉莎•克莉絲蒂一般被視為是一位傳統及經典的偵探小說作家。此類小說家通常會在小說裡強調「最後的真相」以及一個穩定社會秩序的回歸。然而，在此論文中，我將試著去證明克莉絲蒂的作品其實已超越了傳統偵探小說家的境界。由於她另類地在小說裡鋪陳「不確定真相」並且展現了一個介於工業社會以及後工業「風險社會」現代化變遷過程中的不穩定社會秩序，她甚至可以說是一位「反身性」的現代主義作家(“reflexive” modernist)呈現「高度現代性」(high modernity)的社會寫實。 本論文共分為六個章節；主要探討了克莉絲蒂對英國工業社會的「現代化進程」(modernizing process)的反身性及批判性的思維。在她的小說裡，所呈現的所謂「現代化進程」，包含了對理性真理的建構、規律化的時間及空間實踐以及國家之各法制機關的運作。在克莉絲蒂的小說裡，此過程與深受資本主義所影響下的工業化以及都市化的英國社會的關係是密不可分的。 因此，貝克(Ulrich Beck)對「風險社會」(risk society)以及「反身性現代化」(reflexive modernization)的見解，被用來廣泛地討論克莉絲蒂的作品。此外，其他談論「現代性」的幾位學者，例如哈維(David Harvey)、列菲弗爾(Henri Lefebvre)、瑟鐸(Michel de Certeau)以及班雅明(Walter Benjamin)的理論也被運用來解析她的文本。之所以涉及到這幾位學者的學說的原因，主要是他們都對工業社會下的理性化及紀律化的日常生活提出他們的質疑，也對現代科技及都市生活影響下的全新空間/時間的感知，發表了他們的見解。這些都有助於以文化研究的方法來暸解克莉絲蒂在其小說裡所呈現的社會情景。 總之，本論文的主要目標是要探討克莉絲蒂的小說文本與小說的社會背景兩者的關係。以「高度現代性」的理論架構，而非以傳統結構主義以及文類研究的方式，來審視她的小說。藉此，我期盼克莉絲蒂的小說能在英美現代文學作品的研究裡，能夠被重視並且能有重新的評價。 / Agatha Christie is often regarded as a traditional and classic detective writer who accentuates an ultimate truth and promotes the restoration of a stable social order in her novels. Yet, my study attempts to evidence that, with her writings transcending the limits of traditional detective fiction, she acted as a “reflexive” modernist by alternatively dealing with an uncertainty truth and demonstrating a shaky social order in a transitive changing reality from an industrial society to a post-industrial risk society. My dissertation is divided into six chapters, which focus on examining her reflexive and critical consciousness of a modernizing process, including the construction and deconstruction of a rational truth, disciplinary spatiotemporal practices, and legal institutions in her contemporary society of industrialization and urbanization under the impact of capitalism. The study of Christie’s works will be based on Ulrich Beck’s notions of ‘risk society” and “reflexive modernization.” The theories of other modernist scholars, including those of David Harvey, Henri Lefebvre, Michel de Certeau, and Walter Benjamin, are also applied to witness Christie’s transformation from a conventional detective writer to a modernist one. These four theorists interrogate the rational and disciplinary control of everyday life in an industrial society and deal with brand new spatio-temporal perceptions rising from the development of advanced technologies and modern city life. Their theoretical perspectives are helpful to analyze Christie’s texts. Christie’s writings exhibit a changing social reality, a change from an early modernity to a later development of high modernity. Other than applying traditional approaches like structuralism and genre study, I employ a high-modernist perspective to discuss the interactions between Christie’s literary texts and their social background. My study is expected to relocate Christie as an experimental writer in the literary history of detective fiction.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:46:47Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Adriana Pereira de Jesus.pdf: 1509187 bytes, checksum: cb8a189af573e9e368a1b3d7db83853f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-02-11 / Fundo Mackenzie de Pesquisa / The present work is intended to study the detective story, a literary genre that stimulates the young and adult readers curiosity from the first to the last page of the book. We developed a study about this genre using books for children and young adults that identify themselves with the stories, the characters and the adventures. We analyzed the mystery narrative construction in the children s universe, from the novels O caso da estranha fotografia (1977), by Stella Carr; Berenice detetive (1987), by João Carlos Marinho; and Droga de Americana! (1999), by Pedro Bandeira. These writers stories were created with children and young adults in the role of investigators. During the analysis, we emphasized the characterization of the members from the different young adults and children groups and their actions as detectives. In the first chapter, we focused the detective stories in general and their evolution. The second chapter discusses the literature for children focusing in the writers of the works mentioned above. During the two last chapters, we analyzed the three books and the structure of the detective stories for children and young adults. / O objetivo do presente trabalho é estudar o romance policial, um gênero literário que instiga a curiosidade do público jovem e adulto desde a primeira até a última página de um livro. Desenvolvemos um estudo desse gênero em obras voltadas para o público infanto-juvenil que se identifica com as histórias, personagens e aventuras. Analisamos a construção da narrativa policial no universo infantil dos romances O caso da estranha fotografia (1977), de Stella Carr; Berenice detetive (1987), de João Carlos Marinho; e Droga de Americana! (1999), Pedro Bandeira. As obras desses autores foram construídas com crianças e adolescentes no papel de investigadores. Na análise, enfatizamos a caracterização dos integrantes dos diferentes grupos de jovens e crianças e suas atuações como detetives. Para tanto, o trabalho foi dividido em quatro capítulos. No primeiro capítulo, destacamos o romance policial em geral e sua evolução. O segundo capítulo discute a literatura infantil com foco nos autores das três obras mencionadas. Nos dois últimos capítulos, analisamos as três obras e a estrutura do romance policial infanto-juvenil.

Plusieurs films américains des années 2000 (Mulholland Drive et INLAND EMPIRE de David Lynch, The Virgin Suicides de Sofia Coppola, Memento de Christopher Nolan, The Pledge de Sean Penn, Broken Flowers de Jim Jarmusch et Zodiac de David Fincher) opèrent une remise en question de la fonction, du fonctionnement et de la représentation des indices sur lesquels s’appuient tant la littérature que le cinéma policiers. Ces films, qui reprennent certains codes du genre sans être tous à proprement parler des « films policiers », ont pour point commun de mettre en scène une enquête qui n’aboutit pas et qui se retourne contre l’enquêteur jusqu’à ébranler son identité. Ils font ainsi écho aux récits de détection dits métaphysiques (The Crying of Lot 49 de Thomas Pynchon, City of Glass de Paul Auster...) : l’indice, loin de permettre la clôture du récit, devient le moyen de son ouverture. À sa juste interprétation succède le foisonnement des lectures et des histoires possibles. Autrefois transparent, il se fait opaque ; de fluide, sa circulation devient accidentée – ce à quoi correspondent de nouvelles manières de le filmer. Les codes du genre policier visant à marquer l’indice tout en favorisant sa lisibilité et l’identification avec l’enquêteur (insert en gros plan, raccord-regard, faible profondeur de champ…) sont détournés selon diverses stratégies : inversion, exagération, etc. Celles-ci ont pour effet de déjouer les attentes des spectateurs et de les rendre inquiets en rétablissant l’incertitude fondamentale de la littérature policière, que le cinéma policier tend à minorer, tout en la mettant au service de projets esthétiques par ailleurs très différents les uns des autres. / A few American films released between 2000 and 2007 (David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive and INLAND EMPIRE, Sofia Coppola’s The Virgin Suicides, Christopher Nolan’s Memento, Sean Penn’s The Pledge, Jim Jarmusch’s Broken Flowers and David Fincher’s Zodiac) question the function, inner workings and representation of the clues on which detective fiction and film rely. These movies, which take up certain tropes of the genre without necessarily being detective films per se, all revolve around an investigation which is left incomplete and eventually turns against the investigator, to the point of shattering his or her sense of identity. They thus follow in the footsteps of metaphysical detective fiction (novels such as Thomas Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49 and Paul Auster’s City of Glass), in that the clue, instead of bringing about the closure of the narrative, becomes the instrument of its open-endedness. Its one correct interpretation is replaced by a proliferation of possible readings and stories. Once transparent, it turns opaque; once fluid, its circulation becomes problematic – which leads to new ways of filming it. The codes that detective films use to point out the clue, increase its legibility and foster identification with the investigator (close-up insert, eyeline match, shallow focus…) are subverted through a number of strategies such as inversion and exaggeration. These aim to deceive the spectator’s expectations and to unsettle him or her by reinstating the fundamental uncertainty of detective fiction, which detective films normally tend to repress, and which is here incorporated into aesthetic projects that otherwise differ widely.

This master's thesis is a study of how librarians are depicted in crime fiction. 12 American and English mysterynovels featuring librarians in a central role were studied and analysed using character theory. Recurring traitswere identified and organised into themes. A number of prominent traits and themes emerged that show librariansas orderly and organised bibliophiles, but with a taste for adventure and excitement. They are keen problem solverswho enjoy a challenge, at work, or in the form of crime detection. These traits show fairly different sides ofthe characters, and hint of librarians having something of a dubble nature. Some of the traits resonate with findings in earlier studies in the field, but the old stereotype was only parti -ally confirmed. In general the image of librarians presented in the mystery novels is a positive one, which inmany respects also rings true against the background of actual librarians and library work. This is a two years master's thesis in Archive, Library and Museum studies.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of North Texas, Aug., 2007. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--Indiana University, 2010. / Title from screen (viewed on July 19, 2010). Department of English, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). Advisor(s): Robert Rebein, Jonathan Eller, William Touponce. Includes vitae. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 84-86).