Semiconductor diode lasers are successful tools in atomic spectroscopy. They are routinely used in frequency conversion applications to develop devices that access regions of the spectrum not directly available. This thesis describes the practical application of novel violet diode laser systems and their possible inclusion in spectroscopic systems. The design, assembly and successful operation of a doubly resonant optical parametric oscillator is described. There is discussion of the spectral behaviour of the device and the potential for pumping with a violet diode laser. Methods to adapt the output from the solitary diode devices are demonstrated with the use of microlensed diode lasers and extended cavity configurations. Details of the current tuning, linewidth and smooth tuning characteristics of a number of the lasers used are given. A commercial violet diode laser is used within an extended cavity to measure the hyperfine structure of atomic indium from a hollow cathode galvatron source at room temperature. Stabilisation of the diode laser to a line from the indium spectrum is attempted. The remainder of the thesis is concerned with the development of techniques to deliver clearer and more precise spectral information about trace species. Microlensed red and violet diode lasers are used to generate light at 254nm via sum frequency generation for the direct detection and modulation spectroscopy of mercury vapour, with microlensed lasers with modulation allowing more accurate discrimination between spectral features than direct absorption measurements. In addition Raman tweezers modulation spectroscopy is undertaken to investigate polymer microspheres and biological cell samples where the use of the modulation technique demonstrated improvements in the acquisition time and clarity of spectra through increased signal to noise and rejection of background fluorescence effects. A comparison between the direct and modulation techniques for all the systems indicates the greater sensitivity of the modulation technique.

In this thesis, we present a hybrid semantic web service discovery framework that exploits both the signatures and specifications of a web service, whilst adopting logical and non-logical service matching methods. For signature level service matching, we have developed two techniques: (i) logical similarity measures applied to the services’ input/output concepts; and (b) non-logical matching based on a Structure Preserving Semantic Matching algorithm. For specification level service matching, we have applied a unique short sentence matching approach on the textual-description of a web service. We evaluated the performance of our S5 Web Service Matchmaker using the OWLS-TC dataset, and furthermore compared its performance with the OWLS-MX discovery model. Our results indicate that S5 Web Service Matchmaker offers an improved web service matching performance with a significant increase in recall and subtle improvements in precision. / Web services are independent software systems designed to offer machine-to-machine interactions over the WWW to achieve well-described operations. The description of a web service entails (a) a syntactic component detailing the service’s operations and data structures in terms of the Web Services Description Language (WSDL), and (b) a semantic component that offers a semantic description, in terms of an ontology, of the services’ data and operations. Typically, service providers expose their services to the public by providing brief descriptions of the service’s operations; the challenge is to discover the right service based on rather sparse service descriptions in response to a specific service request. In this thesis, we present a hybrid semantic web service discovery framework that offer semantic web service discovery at both the signature and specification levels of a web service, whilst exploiting logical and non-logical service matching methods. For signature level service matching, we have developed two techniques: (i) logical similarity measures applied to the services’ input/output concepts; and (b) non-logical matching based on a Structure Preserving Semantic Matching algorithm. For specification level service matching, we have applied a unique short sentence matching approach on the textual-description of a web service. The cumulative similarly measures determine the overall similarity of a services’ description with the service request. We evaluated the performance of our S5 Web Service Matchmaker using the OWLS-TC dataset, and furthermore compared its performance with the OWLS-MX discovery model. Our results indicate that S5 Web Service Matchmaker offers an improved web service matching performance with a significant increase in recall and subtle improvements in precision.

This work explores the role of the watermill in the history and society of Jordan, Syria and Cyprus from the 12th to the 19th century. Previous studies in this area have been limited, and have usually assumed the watermills in the Levant to date from the Ottoman period. This work aims to suggest that many of the mills still extant today in fact date from an earlier period. A review of the historical documentation and archaeological material is the main background of this study, while an examination of the watermills themselves aims to provide a permanent record of these before they disappear due to rural and urban development. A review of available reference material regarding the role of the mill in Levantine economy and society from the medieval to late Ottoman periods emphasises the importance of the watermill in rural and urban areas of the Levant in a historical period of fluctuating economic stability. The reference material consists mainly of historical accounts by travellers and chroniclers, legal documents such as treaties, charters and waqf documents, as well as archaeological, environmental and socioeconomic studies of the Levant from the medieval to the early modem period. The broad nature of this study aims to form a basis for future research with a more detailed focus in these disciplines.

During the design and verification of the Hyperstone S5 flash memory controller, we developed a highly effective way to use the SystemVerilog direct programming interface (DPI) to integrate an instruction set simulator (ISS) and a software debugger in logic simulation. The processor simulation was performed by the ISS, while all other hardware components were simulated in the logic simulator. The ISS integration allowed us to filter many of the bus accesses out of the logic simulation, accelerating runtime drastically. The software debugger integration freed both hardware and software engineers to work in their chosen development environments. Other benefits of this approach include testing and integrating code earlier in the design cycle and more easily reproducing, in simulation, problems found in FPGA prototypes.

No description available.

This thesis is concerned with attitudes towards supra-national bodies, and more specifically with Scots' attitudes towards union in Britain and Europe. Firstly, it is suggested that support for, or opposition, to integration in a supra-national body depends on the extent to which this body is believed to enhance or undermine the ability to express national identity {identity enhancement vs. identity undermining). Identity undermining, in turn, depends upon a combined sense of incompatibility with outgroup identities/interests and of ingroup powerlessness within the supranational body. Secondly, it is suggested that these features of the social context and of identity meanings can be actively constructed in order to fulfil strategic purposes, such as persuading audiences in favour of separatism or integration. Five studies are reported which investigated these hypotheses. In study 1, we looked at the discourses of Scottish politicians and at the way their accounts of group identities and social reality could be understood in strategic terms, i.e. in relation to their political projects regarding Scotland's status in Britain and in Europe. In the second study, a survey design was used in order to provide quantitative evidence of the relationship between identity undermining, incompatibility, powerlessness and separatism. The third (experimental) study sought to clarify the causal relationship between these variables and showed that manipulating identity undermining lead to increased support for separatism. Finally, the fourth and the fifth (experimental) studies suggested that identity constructions, in the form of judgements of group prototypicality, can vary as a function of the strategic claim made by participants. In conclusion, the merits are stressed of an approach to identity processes and attitudes towards supra-national bodies that is sensitive to both context and content. It is also stressed that context and contents should not be taken as perceptual givens but as actively constructed by social actors.

Abstrakt: Vänster förmaksstorlek har prognostisk betydelse inom kardiologi. Det finns generellt enighet om att vänster förmaksvolymmätning (VFV) är det bästa mätmåttet av vänster förmaksstorlek. För närvarande används S5-1 som är en phased array givare, som första val, för att avbilda 2-dimensionella två- och fyrkammarvyer. Matrix array givaren X5-1 är ett praktiskt kliniskt alternativ för insamling av samma 2D projektioner men den har inte utvärderats på ett adekvat sätt mot S5-1 givare avseende VFV. Syftet med studien är att undersöka om det föreligger någon statistisk signifikant skillnad vid bestämning av VFV i apikal tvåkammarvy beroende på val av givare. Studien omfattade 50 patienter som var remitterade för en ekokardografisk undersökning på avdelningen för klinisk fysiologi och nuklearmedicin på Skånes Universitetssjukhus i Malmö. Ekokardiografiska bilder, insamlades med båda givarna, från både patienter med normal och abnormal vänster förmaksstorlek som hade sinusrytm. VFV mättes med Simpsons biplanmetod efter gällande amerikanska och europeiska riktlinjer. Det fanns en signifikant korrelation mellan medelvärdet av VFV, mätta på bilder som erhållits med de två olika insamlingsmetoderna (r =0,98, P 0,0001). Den utförda Bland-Altmananalysen visade också en statistiskt signifikant överensstämmelse i VFV mätning mellan de två insamlingsmetoderna. Studien visade att X5-1 givaren kan vara ett praktiskt alternativ för att erhålla 2D tvåkammarprojektion på ett mer tidseffektivt sätt jämfört med S5-1 givaren. / Abstract: Left atrial size has a prognostic significance in cardiology.There is ecumenical agreement that measurement of left atrial volume (LAV) is the best way to evaluate the left atrial size. Currently, S5-1, a phased array transducer, is used as the first choice to depict the 2-dimensional (2D) two- and four apical chamber views. X5-1, a matrix array transducer, is a practical clinical option for collecting the same 2D projections, but it has not been adequately assessed against the S5-1 transducer with LAV in consideration. The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether there is any statistically significant difference in the determination of LAV in apical two chamber views depending on the choice of transducer. The study included 50 patients who were referred for an echocardiographic examination at the Department of Clinical Physiology and Nuclear Medicine at Skåne University Hospital in Malmö. Echocardiographic images collected with both transducers, from patients with both normal and abnormal left atrial sizes and with sinus rhythm. LAV was measured using Simpson's biplane method according to the current American Society of Echocardiography (ASE) and European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging (EACVI) guidelines. There was a significant correlation between the mean of LAV, measured in images obtained by the two different transducers (r = 0.98, P 0.0001). The Bland-Altman analysis showed a statistically significant agreement in LAV measurement between the two methods. The X5-1 transducer is possibly a practical alternative to obtain 2D apical two-chamber projection in a more time efficient manner compared to the S5-1 transducer.

This thesis considers the problem of determining Casimir-Lifshitz forces in inhomogeneous media. The ground-state energy of the electromagnetic field in a piston-geometry is discussed. When the cavity is empty, the Casimir pressure on the piston is finite and independent of the small-scale physics of the media that compose the mirrors. However, it is demonstrated that, when the cavity is filled with an inhomogeneous dielectric medium, the Casimir energy is cut-off dependent. The local behavior of the stress tensor commonly used in calculations of Casimir forces is also determined. It is shown that the usual expression for the stress tensor is not finite anywhere within such a medium, whatever the temporal dispersion or index profile, and that this divergence is unlikely to be removed by modifying the regularisation. These findings suggest that the value of the Casimir pressure may be inextricably dependent on the detailed behavior of the mirror and the medium at large wave vectors. This thesis also examines two exceptions to this rule: first, the case of an idealised metamaterial is considered which, when introduced into a cavity, reduces the magnitude of the Casimir force. It is shown that, although the medium is inhomogeneous, it does not contribute additional scattering events but simply modifies the effective length of the cavity, so the predicted force is finite and can be stated exactly. Secondly, a geometric argument is presented for determining a Casimir stress in a spherical mirror filled with the inhomogeneous medium of Maxwell's fish-eye. This solution questions the idea that the Casimir force of a spherical mirror is repulsive, but prompts additional questions concerning regularisation and the role of non-local effects in determining Casimir forces.

This thesis argues that the short fiction of Elizabeth Bowen is acutely preoccupied with reading emotion. Despite the growth of Bowen criticism, her stories remain understudied and this project proposes that their marginal status corresponds to this preoccupation. Through a close engagement with the literary representations of emotion at work in selected Bowen's stories, read alongside Bowen criticism, short story theory, and work on emotion, however, I show how her stories not only anticipate, but radically disrupt, current emotion theory. Recent theorisations of, and research on, emotion and affect across the disciplines tend to rely on the readability of emotion, emphasising the interpretation of specific emotions and reviving practices of affective criticism. Yet Bowen‟s short fiction foregrounds emotion‟s textuality: rather than allow us to read emotion „in‟ literature, I argue that her stories theorise the literariness of emotion. The project begins by suggesting a correspondence between her stories‟ engagement with emotion and their status, both within her literary oeuvre and in Bowen scholarship, to suggest that the complexity of her short fiction is often under-represented by occluding the deconstructions emotion mobilises. This enables us to map critical debates amongst Bowen scholars about the radicality of Bowen‟s fiction onto wider narratives about emotion and critical resistances to its textuality. I go on to undertake close readings of selected stories to show how Bowen‟s short fiction destabilises, rather than reinforces, the geographies of subjectivity, reality, time, and materiality to which emotion is presumed to belong. This project extends Bowen criticism that observes the ways her work anticipates psychoanalytical and Derridean readings, but through its focus on the short story it offers the second focused study of Bowen‟s short fiction, and the first study of her short fiction to be informed by critical emotion theory. Not only does this thesis carve out a new territory within Bowen scholarship, but it offers a timely contribution to problems in thinking emotion and affect in literary criticism and theory. More broadly, it is my hope that my reading of Bowen demonstrates the necessity of attending to the textuality of emotion in the reading and theorisation of emotion across the disciplines.

Macromolecular interactions play very important roles in regulation of all levels of biological processes. Aberrant macromolecular interactions often result in diseases. By applying a combination of spectroscopy, calorimetry, computation and other techniques, the protein-protein interactions in the system of the Shaw2 Kv channel and the protein-RNA interactions in West Nile virus RNA-cellular protein TIAR complex were explored. In the former system, the results shed light on the local structures of the key channel components and their potential interaction mediated by butanol, a general anesthetic. In the later studies, the binding modes of TIAR RRM2 to oligoU RNAs and West Nile virus RNAs were investigated. These findings provided insights into the basis of the specific cellular protein–viral RNA interaction and preliminary data for the development of strategies on how to interfere with virus replication