Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 145-180). / iv, 180 leaves, bound 29 cm

We present the Hadley model, a formal descriptive model of input and output for modern computer operating systems. Our model is intentionally inspired by the Open Systems Interconnection model of networking; I/O as a process is defined as a set of translations between a set of computer-sensible forms, or layers, of information. To illustrate an initial application domain, we discuss the utility of the Hadley model and a potential associated I/O system as a tool for digital forensic investigators. To illustrate practical uses of the Hadley model we present the Hadley Specification Language, an essentially functional language designed to allow the translations that comprise I/O to be written in a concise format allowing for relatively easy verifiability. To further illustrate the utility of the language we present a read/write Microsoft DOS FAT12 and read-only Linux ext2 file system specification written in the new format. We prove the correctness of the read-only side of these descriptions. We present test results from operation of our HSL-driven system both in user mode on stored disk images and as part of a Linux kernel module allowing file systems to be read. We conclude by discussing future directions for the research.

Dust-climate interaction over the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has long been studied, as it is the "dustiest" region on earth. However, the quantitative and qualitative understanding of the role of dust direct radiative effect on MENA climate is still rudimentary. The present dissertation investigates dust direct radiative effect on MENA climate during summer with a special emphasis on the sensitivity of climate response to dust shortwave absorption, which is one of the most uncertain components of dust direct radiative effect. Simulations are conducted with and without dust radiative effect, to differentiate the effect of dust on climate. To elucidate the sensitivity of climate response to dust shortwave absorption, simulations with dust assume three different cases of dust shortwave absorption, representing dust as a very efficient, standard and inefficient shortwave absorber. The non-uniformly distributed dust perturb circulations at various scales. Therefore, the present study takes advantage of the high spatial resolution capabilities of an Atmospheric General Circulation Model (AGCM), High Resolution Atmospheric Model (HiRAM), which incorporates global and regional circulations. AMIP-style global high-resolution simulations are conducted at a spatial resolution of 25 km. A significant response in the strength and position of the local Hadley circulation is predicted in response to meridionally asymmetric distribution of dust and the corresponding radiative effects. Significant responses are also found in regional circulation features such as African Easterly Jet and West African Monsoon circulation. Consistent with these dynamic responses at various scales, the tropical rainbelt across MENA strengthens and shifts northward. Similarly, the temperature under rainbelt cools and that over subtropical deserts warms. Inter-comparison of various dust shortwave absorption cases shows that the response of the MENA tropical rainbelt is extremely sensitive to the strength of shortwave absorption. Further analyses reveal that the sensitivity of the rainbelt stems from the sensitivity of the multi-scale circulations that define the rainbelt. Importantly, the summer precipitation over the semi-arid strip south of Sahara, including Sahel, increases in response to dust radiative effect. The maximum response and sensitivity are predicted over this region. The sensitivity of the responses over Sahel, especially that of precipitation, is comparable to the mean state. Locally, the precipitation increase reaches up to 50% of the mean, while dust is assumed to be a very efficient absorber. As the region is characterized by the "Sahel drought", the predicted precipitation sensitivity to the dust loading over this region has a wide-range of socioeconomic implications. The present study, therefore, suggests the importance of reducing uncertainty in dust shortwave absorption for a better simulation and interpretation of the MENA climate in general, and of Sahel in particular.

The aim of this thesis has been to provide the reader with an intuitive insight into the mechanisms of the Coriolis effect. Apart from thoroughly describing the phenomenon, the essay attempts to eliminate as many myths prevailing around the Coriolis effect as possible. To get there, only a few mathematical derivations and calculations have been presented – the focus has been on a pure conceptual level. Furthermore, delusive textbook explanations have been examined and discussed in case studies. In the conclusion, the goal is reached by summarising the sought intuitive description of the Coriolis effect into one single sentence.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / While it is commonly acknowledged that the primal traumatic events of Hemingway’s time as an ambulance driver in Italy during World War I had a profound influence on his works of fiction, there has been relatively little exploration of the notion that the “working through” which occurred in the recovery from his own personal trauma manifests a complex and interwoven relationship with the writing process. This is certainly not unknown territory for scholars; when Hemingway first embarked upon the earliest fiction writing of his professional career, biographical research indicates he was once again enduring a traumatic experience of sorts. Yet formal trauma theory has rarely been applied to the study of Hemingway’s most intensely autobiographical short fiction. It is my contention that the “working through” of Hemingway’s writing process demonstrated in his published and unpublished Nick Adams stories was prompted by both his defining war-time trauma experience and his later, more private hardships.

I identify and analyse an emergent sub-genre of contemporary literature by women that I am calling ‘New Femininities’ fiction. This fiction is about the distinctly feminine experience of contemporary domestic life written by women about the lives of heterosexual female characters that are married or in committed partnerships, often with children. These texts are concerned with the nature of the self, with a self that is plural and ‘in process’, and make use of particular narrative devices – ironic voice, unreliable narration, free indirect discourse, and interrogative endings that exceed their roles as simply telling stories. ‘New Femininities’ fictions allow their language the necessary freedom to multiply meanings and enact the narrative conflicts they raise and by so doing, undermine the binary oppositions which structure a gendered world. In this dissertation, I argue the models of existing criticism would do a disservice to these texts because much of the criticism either overvalues the theoretical and ignores the literariness of the text or seeks to identify a ‘feminine’ language the definition of which serves to reinforce and revalue patriarchal notions of femininity. The readings that this fiction requires necessitate a negotiation with established models of feminist literary criticism. I attempt to identify the characteristics of their style that allows them to straddle binary oppositions and to look at the language these authors use without having to label it ‘feminine’ and by so doing establish, build, or reinforce a boundary with some undefined ‘masculine’ language which stands in for all occurrences that are not ‘feminine’. Additionally, I attempt to forge a transformed, adapted concept vocabulary for dealing with this group of writers. To this end, I make use of various discourses to show how the different authors either negotiate with that discourse or prove its inadequacy to describe or explain these new femininities.

This thesis provides the measurements of 222Rn exhalation rates, 210Pb deposition rates and excess 210Pb inventories for locations in and around Ranger Uranium Mine and Jabiru located within Kakadu National Park, Australia. Radon-222 is part of the natural 238U series decay chain and the only gas to be found in the series under normal conditions. Part of the natural redistribution of 222Rn in the environment is a portion exhales from the ground and disperses into the atmosphere. Here it decays via a series of short-lived progeny, that attach themselves to aerosol particles, to the long lived isotope 210Pb (T1/2 = 22.3 y). Attached and unattached 210Pb is removed from the atmosphere through wet and dry deposition and deposited on the surface of the earth, the fraction deposited on soils is gradually transported through the soil and can create a depth profile of 210Pb. Here it decays to the stable isotope 206Pb completing the 238U series. Measurements of 222Rn exhalation rates and 210Pb deposition rates were performed over complete seasonal cycles, August 2002 - July 2003 and May 2003 - May 2004 respectively. The area is categorised as wet and dry tropics and it experiences two distinct seasonal patterns, a dry season (May-October) with little or no precipitation events and a wet season (December-March) with almost daily precipitation and monsoonal troughs. November and April are regarded as transitional months. As the natural processes of 222Rn exhalation and 210Pb deposition are heavily influenced by soil moisture and precipitation respectively, seasonal variations in the exhalation and deposition rates were expected. It was observed that 222Rn exhalation rates decreased throughout the wet season when the increase in soil moisture retarded exhalation. Lead-210 deposition peaked throughout the wet season as precipitation is the major scavenging process of this isotope from the atmosphere. Radon-222 is influenced by other parameters such as 226Ra activity concentration and distribution, soil porosity and grain size. With the removal of the influence of soil moisture during the dry season it was possible to examine the effect of these other variables in a more comprehensive manner. This resulted in categorisation of geomorphic landscapes from which the 222Rn exhalation rate to 226Ra activity concentration ratios were similar during the dry season. These results can be extended to estimate dry season 222Rn exhalation rates from tropical locations from a measurement of 226Ra activity concentration. Through modelling the 210Pb budget on local and regional scales it was observed that there is a net loss of 210Pb from the region, the majority of which occurs during the dry season. This has been attributed to the fact that 210Pb attached to aerosols is transported great distance with the prevailing trade winds created by a Hadley Circulation cell predominant during the dry season (winter) months. By including the influence of factors such as water inundation and natural 210Pb redistribution in the soil wet season budgeting of 210Pb on local and regional scales gave very good results.

Do changes in how cross-equatorial energy transport is partitioned between the ocean and atmosphere impact the hemispheric climate response to forcing? To find out, we alter the cross-equatorial ocean heat transport in a state-of-the-art GCM and ascertain how changes in energy transport and its partitioning impact hemispheric climate and precipitation sensitivity following abrupt CO2-doubling. We further evaluate the applicability our results in CMIP6-class ESMs, where AMOC facilitates the northward cross-equatorial ocean heat transport. In our experiments, changes in ocean cross-equatorial energy transport trigger compensating changes in atmospheric energy transport through changes in the Hadley cells and a shift in the Intertropical Convergence Zone. However, the climate sensitivity in each hemisphere is linearly related to the ocean heat transport convergence, not atmospheric energy transport convergence, due to the impact of ocean heating on evaporation and atmospheric specific humidity. Similarly, we also find that ocean heat transport convergence controls the hemispheric precipitation sensitivity through the impact of ocean heating on surface evaporation. This relationship is also evident in CMIP6 models, where we find differences in hemispheric precipitation sensitivity to be related to the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). Changes in the AMOC control hemispheric differences in upper ocean heat content, which then affect how the hydrologic cycle responds to CO2 forcing in each hemisphere. These results suggest that ocean dynamics impact the hemispheric climate response to CO2 forcing, particularly how much regional precipitation changes with warming. / Graduate