The objective of this thesis is to challenge the patriarchal traditions of Surrealism by examining the topic from the perspective of its women practitioners. Unlike past research, which often focuses on the biographical details of women artists, this thesis provides a case study of a select group of women Surrealists – chosen for the variety of their artistic practice and creativity – based on the close textual analysis of selected works. Specifically, this study will deal with names that are familiar (Lee Miller, Meret Oppenheim, Frida Kahlo), marginal (Elsa Schiaparelli) or simply ignored or dismissed within existing critical analyses (Alice Rahon). The focus of individual chapters will range from photography and sculpture to fashion, alchemy and folklore. By exploring subjects neglected in much orthodox male Surrealist practice, it will become evident that the women artists discussed here created their own form of Surrealism, one that was respectful and loyal to the movement’s founding principles even while it playfully and provocatively transformed them.

This study draws on and interprets an extensive corpus of archived materials, in particular from the Stadtmuseum Düsseldorf, to offer the first wide-ranging critical analysis of the written and visual images of the life and legend of Weimar Germany’s most important ‘modern’ art dealers - Johanna Ey (1864 - 1947), commonly known as ‘Mutter Ey’. Once feted by the press as the most portrayed woman in Germany, she contributed greatly to the careers of artists such as Max Ernst, Otto Dix, Gert Wollheim, Otto Pankok and many others and was a vital figure in the ‘modern’ Düsseldorf art scene until she was evicted from her gallery by the Nazis in 1934. This study opens with a factual overview of Ey’s biography. Chapters are then devoted to an analysis of the development, reception and prevalence of aspects of her legend: the use of the ‘Mutter Ey’ image in the Weimar Period; an exploration of the notion of Ey’s modernity using the trope of the ‘Neue Frau’; an investigation into her attitude to politics in general and the Nazis in particular, in the first detailed reading of Ey’s 1936 memoirs and her correspondence from 1933-1947; and an analysis of the factors influencing the rise, fall and rise of her celebrity status and her memorialisation since her death.

This thesis explores the life and work of the Kuwaiti artist Khalifa Qattan (1934-2003). The first chapter views Qattan in the context of twentieth-century visual culture in Kuwait. It also shows the European influence on his work, as he lived and studied in Britain in the 1950s. A second chapter is dedicated to Qattan's aesthetic theory called Circulism; it shows that it is a philosophy and a style, and situates Circulism between western and Arabic sources. The third chapter deals with the Gulf War of 1991 as a particular topic in Qattan's work, and compares his work about the war with the work of John Keane, the British artist who was commissioned by the Imperial War Museum as an official recorder to cover that war. Considering western and Arabic writings on the war, this chapter argues that different visual interpretations of the war are rooted in an 'insider' and 'outsider' experience. A conclusion discusses the general problems involved when viewing non-western visual cultures with western eyes. An appendix, a bibliography and a list of illustrations followed by 61 illustrations conclude the thesis.

Field-effect transistor technologies have been critical building blocks for satellite systems since their introduction into the microelectronics industry. The extremely high cost of launching payloads into orbit necessitates systems to have small form factor, ultra low-power consumption, and reliable lifetime operation, while satisfying the performance requirements of a given application. Silicon-based complementary metal-oxide-semiconductors (Si CMOS) have traditionally been able to adequately meet these demands when coupled with radiation hardening techniques that have been developed over years of invested research. However, as customer demands increase, pushing the limits of system throughput, noise, and speed, alternative technologies must be employed. Silicon-germanium BiCMOS platforms have been identfied as a technology candidate for meeting the performance criteria of these pioneering satellite systems and deep space applications, contingent on their ability to be hardened to radiation-induced damage. Given that SiGe technology is a relative new- comer to terrestrial and extra-terrestrial applications in radiation-rich environments, the same wealth of knowledge of time-tested radiation hardening methodologies has not been established as it has for Si CMOS. Although SiGe BiCMOS technology has been experimentally proven to be inherently tolerant to total-ionizing dose damage mechanism, the single event susceptibility of this technology remains a primary concern. The objective of this research is to characterize the physical mechanisms that drive the origination of ion-induced transient terminal currents in SiGe HBTs that subsequently lead to a wide range of possible single event phenomena. Building upon this learning, a variety of device-level hardening methodologies are explored and tested for efficacy.

La tesi esamina la partecipazione della Santa Sede alla Conferenza per la Sicurezza e la Cooperazione in Europa (ora Organizzazione per la Sicurezza e la Cooperazione in Europa), concentrandosi sui documenti riguardanti la libertà religiosa. Premesse le circostanze geo-politiche che hanno portato alla convocazione della Conferenza e la posizione vaticana antecedente ad essa, vengono analizzati i lavori della Conferenza di Helsinki nonché delle Riunioni sui Seguiti di Belgrado, Madrid e Vienna. Inoltre, viene illustrata la trasformazione ed istituzionalizzazione della Conferenza e, quindi, l'attività dell'OSCE nell'ambito della dimensione umana dell'OSCE, esaminando le procedure e i meccanismi istituiti per la verifica degli impegni. Infine, viene preso in considerazione il programma promosso dall'OSCE sulla tolleranza e la non discriminazione verso gli appartenenti alle confessioni religiose. / The thesis investigates the Holy See's participation in the Conference for Security and Cooperation in Europe (now Organization for the Security and Cooperation in Europe), focusing on documents about religious freedom. After a brief description of the geo-politic scenery that brought to the Conference and the Holy See's position, the thesis analyzes the Helsinki Conference's works and thereafter the Follow-up Meetings of Belgrade, Madrid and Vienna. The thesis examines also the Conference's transformation and institutionalization and, then, the OSCE activity in the human dimension, focusing on procedures and mechanisms provided for the commitments' implementation. Finally, the thesis investigates the OSCE program for tolerance and non discrimination to religions' members.

Gewässer werden traditionellerweise als abgeschlossene Ökosysteme gesehen, und insbeson¬dere das Zirkulieren von Wasser und Nährstoffen im Pelagial von Seen wird als Beispiel dafür angeführt. Allerdings wurden in der jüngeren Vergangenheit wichtige Verknüpfungen des Freiwasserkörpers von Gewässern aufgezeigt, die einerseits mit dem Benthal und andererseits mit dem Litoral, der terrestrischen Uferzone und ihrem Einzugsgebiet bestehen. Dadurch hat in den vergangen Jahren die horizontale und vertikale Konnektivität der Gewässerökosysteme erhöhtes wissenschaftliches Interesse auf sich gezogen, und damit auch die ökologischen Funktionen des Gewässergrunds (Benthal) und der Uferzonen (Litoral). Aus der neu beschriebenen Konnektivität innerhalb und zwischen diesen Lebensräumen ergeben sich weitreichende Konsequenzen für unser Bild von der Funktionalität der Gewässer. In der vorliegenden Habilitationsschrift wird am Beispiel von Fließgewässern und Seen des nordostdeutschen Flachlandes eine Reihe von internen und externen funktionalen Verknüpfungen in den horizontalen und vertikalen räumlichen Dimensionen aufgezeigt. Die zugrunde liegenden Untersuchungen umfassten zumeist sowohl abiotische als auch biologische Variablen, und umfassten thematisch, methodisch und hinsichtlich der Untersuchungsgewässer ein breites Spektrum. Dabei wurden in Labor- und Feldexperimenten sowie durch quantitative Feldmes¬sungen ökologischer Schlüsselprozesse wie Nährstoffretention, Kohlenstoffumsatz, extrazellu¬läre Enzymaktivität und Ressourcenweitergabe in Nahrungsnetzen (mittels Stabilisotopen¬methode) untersucht. In Bezug auf Fließgewässer wurden dadurch wesentliche Erkenntnisse hinsichtlich der Wirkung einer durch Konnekticität geprägten Hydromorphologie auf die die aquatische Biodiversität und die benthisch-pelagische Kopplung erbracht, die wiederum einen Schlüsselprozess darstellt für die Retention von in der fließenden Welle transportierten Stoffen, und damit letztlich für die Produktivität eines Flussabschnitts. Das Litoral von Seen wurde in Mitteleuropa jahrzehntelang kaum untersucht, so dass die durchgeführten Untersuchungen zur Gemeinschaftsstruktur, Habitatpräferenzen und Nahrungs¬netzverknüpfungen des eulitoralen Makrozoobenthos grundlegend neue Erkenntnisse erbrach¬ten, die auch unmittelbar in Ansätze zur ökologischen Bewertung von Seeufern gemäß EG-Wasserrahmenrichtlinie eingehen. Es konnte somit gezeigt werden, dass die Intensität sowohl die internen als auch der externen ökologischen Konnektivität durch die Hydrologie und Morphologie der Gewässer sowie durch die Verfügbarkeit von Nährstoffen wesentlich beeinflusst wird, die auf diese Weise vielfach die ökologische Funktionalität der Gewässer prägen. Dabei trägt die vertikale oder horizontale Konnektivität zur Stabilisierung der beteiligten Ökosysteme bei, indem sie den Austausch ermöglicht von Pflanzennährstoffen, von Biomasse sowie von migrierenden Organismen, wodurch Phasen des Ressourcenmangels überbrückt werden. Diese Ergebnisse können im Rahmen der Bewirtschaftung von Gewässern dahingehend genutzt werden, dass die Gewährleistung horizontaler und vertikaler Konnektivität in der Regel mit räumlich komplexeren, diverseren, zeitlich und strukturell resilienteren sowie leistungsfähi¬geren Ökosystemen einhergeht, die somit intensiver und sicherer nachhaltig genutzt werden können. Die Nutzung einer kleinen Auswahl von Ökosystemleistungen der Flüsse und Seen durch den Menschen hat oftmals zu einer starken Reduktion der ökologischen Konnektivität, und in der Folge zu starken Verlusten bei anderen Ökosystemleistungen geführt. Die Ergebnisse der dargestellten Forschungen zeigen auch, dass die Entwicklung und Implementierung von Strategien zum integrierten Management von komplexen sozial-ökologischen Systemen wesentlich unterstützt werden kann, wenn die horizontale und vertikale Konnektivität gezielt entwickelt wird. / Surface waters are seen traditionally as closed ecosystems, and the recirculation of water and nutrients in the pelagic zone of lakes is cited as an example fort his. However, recently important linkages have been demonstrated between the pelagic zone on one side, and the benthic and the littoral zones, the terrestrial shore area and the catchment on the other side. Therby, the horizontal and vertical connectivity of aquatic ecosystems has attracted intense scientific interest, and together with this the ecological functions of the bottom zone (benthic zone) and of the shore zone (littoral zone), too. From this newly described connectivity far-reaching consequences arise for our picture of the functionality of surface waters. In this habilitation thesis a number of internal and external functional linkages are depicted in the horizontal and vertical spatial dimensions, as exemplified by running waters and lakes of the north-east German lowlands. The underlying studies mostly comprised both abiotic and biotic variables, and a broad range of topics, methods and studied surface waters. Thereby, experiments in the lab and the field, as well as quantitative field measurements were used to investigate ecological key processes as nutrient retention, carbon dynamics, extracellular enzyme activity, and resource transfer in food webs (using stabile isotope technique). In respect to running waters this resulted in substantial insights into the effects of a hydromorphology exhibiting intense connectivity on aquatic biodiversity and benthic-pelagic coupling, which represents a key process for the retention of transported matter, and thus for the productivity of a river section. The littoral zone of lakes has hardly been studied in Central Europe for several decades. Thus, the results on community structure, habitat preference and food web linkages of eulittoral macrozoobenthos enabled fundamentally new insights, which can directly be used within approaches for the ecological assessment of lake shores according to the EU Water Framework Directive. Research results show that the development and implementation of strategies for an integrated management of complex social-ecological systems may be substantially underpinned by targeted development of horizontal and vertical connectivity.

Les technologies de silicium s'approchent de leurs limites physiques en termes de réduction des tailles des transistors, et de la tension d'alimentation, d'augmentation de la vitesse de fonctionnement et du nombre de dispositifs intégrés dans une puce. En s'approchant de ces limites, les circuits deviennent de plus en plus sensibles aux phénomènes parasites diverses, d'origine interne ou externe au circuit, provoquant une augmentation très importante du taux d'erreurs du fonctionnement. Le manuscrit présente un résumé de mes travaux de recherche, menés en collaboration avec les doctorants que jái co-encadrés ou que j'encadre en ce moment et avec les nombreux stagiaires qui se sont succédés au laboratoire TIMA, et dans un premier temps concerne les techniques de tolérance aux fautes permanentes et transitoires destinées aux nouvelles technologies de silicium (ciblant les technologies en dessous des 32nm) ainsi qu'aux futures technologies de remplacement du silicium, les nanotechnologies. Une partie de travaux de recherche s'articule autour de la prédiction des taux de défaillances des systèmes intégrés complexes. Des méthodologies de simulation de fautes concernant tous les niveaux d'abstraction sont présentées, tant pour les circuits numériques que pour les circuits analogiques, ainsi que la mise en place d'outils de simulation automatique. In fine, une dernière partie du manuscrit présente des activités de recherche beaucoup plus récentes, articulées autour de la modélisation et de la simulation des structures simples et complexes à base de nanotubes de carbone en vue d'une analyse prédictive de fonctionnement sans défaillances. Au passage des systèmes complexes et les outils de CAO pour les nanotechnologies sont aussi présentés.

Photorealism was a movement which focused on meticulously reproducing the quotidian photograph on a large scale. Despite its popularity from between 1967-1977, it was often considered by critics to be vacuous and anachronistic. This was due to several factors, most significant of which were its focus on the outmoded practice of pictorial realism, the banality of its subjects and its apparent plagiaristic approach to the photograph-as-source. This neutral and cool aesthetic was misunderstood as superficial and served to render the movement the very antithesis of aesthetic creativity. This thesis seeks to reconsider such apparent objectivity in Photorealist painting by presenting a semiotic reading of Photorealist practice that will form the basis of the central argument in this thesis. This argument posits that there are evidential layers of signification embedded within the making of a Photorealist work which enact perceptual, conventional and historical conditions that deny the project of visual neutrality. This argument will prove that Photorealism was not a clear continuation of traditional pictorial realism, but a more conceptual movement which questioned conceptions of the phenomenological real. It will also show how, in Photorealism’s transmutation of the photographic aesthetic, it instigated the development of a hybrid visual language – a ‘route to meaning’ – which served to occupy the vacant space between the painting and the photograph. To reveal the development of such a language, and its inherently subjectivist foundations, I will inquire into the Photorealist painting from its very beginnings – from perceptual conception to conclusion – within the realm of the artist. The methodology for such an inquiry will involve the development and application of a heuristic model, informed by a semiotic approach, which will show how reality in Photorealism is mediated and transformed in the process of (re)-presenting the photograph. This model will categorise the key stages of activity and influence in the Photorealist process, showing at each stage how visual language is engendered and compounded. By adopting such an approach this thesis will show that Photorealist paintings, contrary to much criticism, managed to establish a unique and significant manner of depicting the real that is now worthy of contemporary reappraisal.

This thesis is concerned with the didactic function of fourteenth- and fifteenth-century vernacular religious literature and art in contemporary medieval English society, and particularly the ways in which texts and images participate in emergent lay religious culture and inform social practices of the time. The focus is on apocryphal and legendary depictions of episodes in the Life of the Virgin Mary in vernacular works of the later Middle Ages and special consideration is given to the ways in which certain female audiences in England may have received and responded to Mary narratives. An introductory chapter outlines the process and means by which biblical and extra-biblical knowledge was disseminated to the late medieval laity via the range of literary and pictorial material brought into comparison in this thesis. Additionally, the introductory chapter surveys existing research on the socio-economic and spiritual circumstances that made accounts of Mary’s life particularly useful to ‘merchant-class’ wives whose way of life, it is argued, is emblematic of change in the period. Five central chapters each provide interpretations of common motifs in a key event in Christian history involving Mary and assess their engagement with the experiences and aspirations of lay unlearned audiences, primarily (though not exclusively) domesticated bourgeois women. The events referred to and discussed in chronological order in this thesis are the Annunciation, Nativity, Passion of Christ, and the Death, Assumption and Coronation of Mary. The material analysed comprises biblical drama, sermons, poetry, lyrics, wall-paintings, manuscript illustrations, and tapestries. A number of core works are referred to throughout and, as detailed in the introduction, include texts such as the four extant mystery cycle plays, Nicholas Love’s Mirror, John Mirk’s Festial, the Cursor Mundi, and art works such as contained in the Biblia Pauperum, and books of hours.

Politically committed street art has been mobilised time and again as a crucial strategy and means of expression. Yet, social movement scholars and political analysts have displayed a persistent tendency to overlook the specificities of visual tools and aesthetic experience in contentious politics. Consequently, political action is often described and understood in ways that are reductive and distorted. This dissertation brings together a range of insights from art and aesthetics, communications and cultural studies in order to address this quandary. Fundamentally, this study makes a novel contribution to the discipline of International Relations and to the associated field of Social Movement Theory by synthesising and extending scholarly work on political process and affective encounter in ways that facilitate a thoroughgoing analysis of politically committed street art and ‘what it can do’ in protest. Drawing on research undertaken in Bolivia, Brazil and Argentina, this dissertation argues that street art can and has been utilised strategically and instrumentally in protest, in mobilising resources and galvanising public opinion. It also contends that the framing processes leading to these outcomes have been under-specified due to their recourse to an epistemology that rationalises away the sensate dimensions of protest. A key claim of this thesis is that under certain circumstances street art can very usefully be modelled as a mode of infrapolitics; deliberately veiled expressions that seek to skirt the gaze of the authorities. However, it is also suggested that periods of seemingly rational and strategic deployments of street art are sometimes punctuated by something else, a collective sense of something gone awry, wherein the categories and tools for processing what went wrong are unavailable. In these instances, activists might be moved to produce street art or be moved by producing it. By attending to political street art’s instrumental and heuristic potentials, this piece of work goes beyond current discussions about framing and political opportunity. It also contributes a series of new case studies centred on periods of contention in Latin America.