The main objective of this thesis is to present a new image processing technique to improve the detectability of buried objects such as landmines using Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR). The main challenge of GPR based landmine detection is to have an accurate image analysis method that is capable of reducing false alarms. However an accurate image relies on having sufficient spatial resolution in the received signal. An Antipersonnel mine (APM) can have a diameter as little as 2cm, whereas many soils have very high attenuation at frequencies above 450 MHz. In order to solve the detection problem, a system level analysis of the issues involved with the recognition of landmines using image reconstruction is required. The thesis illustrates the development of a novel technique called the SIMCA (“SIMulated Correlation Algorithm”) based on area or volume correlation between the trace that would be returned by an ideal point reflector in the soil conditions at the site (obtained using the realistic simulation of Maxwell’s equations) and the actual trace. During an initialization phase, SIMCA carries out radar simulation using the system parameters of the radar and the soil properties. Then SIMCA takes the raw data as the radar is scanned over the ground and uses a clutter removal technique to remove various unwanted signals of clutter such as cross talk, initial ground reflection and antenna ringing. The trace which would be returned by a target under these conditions is then used to form a correlation kernel using a GPR simulator. The 2D GPR scan (B scan), formed by abutting successive time-amplitude plots taken from different spatial positions as column vectors,is then correlated with the kernel using the Pearson correlation coefficient resulting in a correlated image which is brightest at points most similar to the canonical target. This image is then raised to an odd power >2 to enhance the target/background separation. The first part of the thesis presents a 2-dimensional technique using the B scans which have been produced as a result of correlating the clutter removed radargram (’B scan’) with the kernel produced from the simulation. In order to validate the SIMCA 2D algorithm, qualitative evidence was used where comparison was made between the B scans produced by the SIMCA algorithm with B scans from some other techniques which are the best alternative systems reported in the open literature. It was found from this that the SIMCA algorithm clearly produces clearer B scans in comparison to the other techniques. Next quantitative evidence was used to validate the SIMCA algorithm and demonstrate that it produced clear images. Two methods are used to obtain this quantitative evidence. In the first method an expert GPR user and 4 other general users are used to predict the location of landmines from the correlated B scans and validate the SIMCA 2D algorithm. Here human users are asked to indicate the location of targets from a printed sheet of paper which shows the correlated B scans produced by the SIMCA algorithm after some training, bearing in mind that it is a blind test. For the second quantitative evidence method, the AMIRA software is used to obtain values of the burial depth and position of the target in the x direction and hence validate the SIMCA 2D algorithm. Then the absolute error values for the burial depth along with the absolute error values for the position in the x direction obtained from the SIMCA algorithm and the Scheers et al’s algorithm when compared to the corresponding ground truth values were calculated. Two-dimensional techniques that use B scans do not give accurate information on the shape and dimensions of the buried target, in comparison to 3D techniques that use 3D data (’C scans’). As a result the next part of the thesis presents a 3-dimensional technique. The equivalent 3D kernel is formed by rotating the 2D kernel produced by the simulation along the polar co-ordinates, whilst the 3D data is the clutter removed C scan. Then volume correlation is performed between the intersecting parts of the kernel and the data. This data is used to create iso-surfaces of the slices raised to an odd power > 2. To validate the algorithm an objective validation process which compares the actual target volume to that produced by the re-construction process is used. The SIMCA 3D technique and the Scheers et al’s (the best alternative system reported in the open literature) technique are used to image a variety of landmines using GPR scans. The types of mines included plastic, wooden and glass ones. In all cases clear images were obtained with SIMCA. In contrast Scheers’ algorithm, the present state-of-the-art, failed to provide clear images of non metallic landmines. For this thesis, the above algorithms have been tested for landmine data and for locating foundations in demolished buildings and to validate and demonstrate that the SIMCA algorithms are better than existing technologies such as the Scheers et al’s method and the REFLEXW commercial software.

To improve the stealthiness, and the efficiency of military aircraft, engineers moved carried weapons from external hand points, to weapons bays. However, the flow inside bays is turbulent, and characterised by strong broadband, and tonal noise. The open bay flow leads to variability in the released store trajectory, excites the missile, and bay structures, and reduces the aircraft stealthiness. This thesis aims to improve our understanding of real weapon bay flow, and suggests a method for quantifying the store trajectory variability. The main spatio-temporal characteristics of cavity flows are described using post-processing methods, like, SPL, OASPL, and wavelet transform. Also, the code HMB3 is validated for simulation of cavity flows, comparing Scale Adaptive (SAS) results with experiments. To further improve the understanding of the physics driving this flow, a simple model is presented, and compared to experiments. The results are promising, and the model is able to reproduce the cavity flow fluctuations both in space and time. To support measurements of the noise field around a cavity flow, beamforming is applied to the CFD results. This method was able of capturing the main sources of noise around the cavity, using a microphone array, and the mean flow to simulate the propagation of acoustic waves. Also, recommendations for future use of this technique are given. Developments were carried out for this thesis, and for the first time, a CFD code is reported to simulate the complete weapon bay operation, including door operation, store release, and store aeroelasticity. The different parts of the code are strongly coupled, and work together. Thanks to new capabilities of HMB3, this thesis shows more insight on the physics behind realistic weapon bay operation. The flow establishment during door opening is described, and appears to be important for store design, only if the doors are moving very fast. Store releases are simulated, and statistical analysis of the data is performed. A statistical metric was proposed to identify the minimum number of simulations necessary for capturing the mean and standard deviation of the trajectories. Using averaged, and filtered flow data, the trajectory phases were identified and the role of the pressure field inside the cavity was clarified. In addition, the aeroelasticity of the store was computed during carriage, door opening, and release phases, showing small deformations that may lead to structural fatigue. Thanks to the efficiency of the SAS method, a large number of simulations were performed, and more than 1800 cavity travel times were simulated. Simulation of the flow around a store in a supersonic flow, and at high attitude is described in an appendix of the thesis. Like a cavity, this flow has complex features that require advanced turbulence modelling to be simulated. In addition, novel cavity flow controls are investigated, and described in a restricted appendix of the thesis.

During their efforts to reformulate and redefine U.S. nuclear non-proliferation policy throughout the 1970s, the Nixon, Ford, and Carter administrations, engaged extensively, on a bilateral basis, with the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran’s (AEOI) Director, Dr. Akbar Etemad, in order to pursue an agreement establishing a cooperative relationship in the nuclear energy field. Although the United States attached high strategic importance to maintaining a strong bilateral relationship with Iran, and despite Iranian protestations of discriminatory treatment, the U.S. pursued an increasingly firm position in its negotiations with Iran, by insisting on the inclusion of progressively more restrictive elements to prevent proliferation, in the bilateral nuclear cooperation agreement between the two parties. Although the imposition of stricter conditions frustrated Iran, the US bilateral negotiating position was consistent with its evolving wider nuclear non-proliferation policy. Precisely because of the strong ties and alliance between Iran and the United States at this time, the U.S. --particularly the Carter administration -- wanted to showcase the eventual U.S.-Iranian cooperation agreement as a model for future bilateral nuclear cooperation agreements. The U.S. administrations also aimed to exploit their close relationship with the Shah by using him as an intermediary to advance U.S. proliferation concerns in the region. U.S. foreign policy is complex and multifaceted. As identified by Rosenau and further explored by Wittkopf et al, there are external, societal, governmental, role, and individual sources, contributing to foreign policy. Adapting this approach to a specific aspect of U.S. foreign policy -- that of nuclear non-proliferation policy -- this thesis identifies and examines the various sources contributing to U.S. nuclear non-proliferation policy during the Nixon, Ford and Carter administrations. The analysis is refined further by examining the specific bilateral policy case study in the context of the general U.S. nuclear non-proliferation policy during this period. This comparative approach allows the thesis to identify the objectives of U.S. bilateral nuclear cooperation policy with Iran in a systematic manner and conclude that the bilateral objectives were consistent with general U.S. nuclear non-proliferation objectives, which evolved throughout the three presidencies. This thesis contributes to the literature on U.S.-Iran bilateral foreign policy on nuclear issues in the 1970s and U.S. nuclear non-proliferation policy more broadly. The originality of its contribution resides particularly in its is extensive empirical research using authoritative primary sources, specifically declassified official U.S. government documents sourced from the U.S. National Security Archive, and the relevant presidential libraries. These archival sources are supplemented and supported by existing secondary sources as well as semi-structured interviews of U.S. and Iranian officials.

Jewish and national histories have been interwoven in this study to probe the collision between perceptions of Jewish identity and the legacy of an imperial hierarchy of martial masculinity, conditioned by the pressures of war. It was to create significant dislocation, both in the traditional relationship between Jews and the State, and within the Jewish community. The negative stereotype of the Jewish male, which emerged in fin de siècle, is examined from three inter-connected perspectives; Jewish responses to the evolution of a masculine cult in the prelude to 1914, the changing dynamics of Jewish interaction with State officialdom in the war years, and issues of integration and separation which contributed to the multi-faceted profile of the Jewish soldier. The results of archival research suggest that vested interests concerning the question of Jewish military service created tensions between Government Departments and within the community, where patriotism clashed with nationalism, both concepts being anathema to a large number of immigrant Jews. The consequences divided Jews in Britain, challenging the authority of the Anglo-Jewish elite, and revealing to the State its misconception of a Jewish corporate entity. Despite the Jews’ military record, and the incipient demise of ‘imperial man’, negative perceptions of the Jewish male were diminished but not eliminated.

Polymer composite materials are becoming increasingly popular in many engineering structures in the civil, aerospace, marine and automotive industries. The increased strength and stiffness to weight ratios which are possible with certain types of composites make them particularly attractive to many high performance applications such as military aircraft, offshore lifeboats and formula one racing cars. One aspect of composite materials which is preventing more widespread use is the perceived poor performance in fire. The perception is due to the fact that organic compounds used in polymer composites are combustible. The loss of the Norwegian Navy’s composite mine hunter vessel Orkla in 2002 to a fire did much to prevent further widespread use of such materials. The work presented here describes the research that has been conducted into assessing and predicting the performance of single skin and sandwich composite materials subjected to fire and mechanical load. The materials that were investigated were representative of the materials used in the construction of Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) lifeboats. A new method has been developed to assess the response both thermally and mechanically of single skin and sandwich panels subjected to combined fire and mechanical load. This has been done by the construction of a small scale fire and load testing apparatus. An empirical relationship was developed to predict the stiffness of single skin and sandwich panels during a fire and load test. Numerical models have also been generated to predict the thermo-mechanical response of single skin and sandwich panels to fire and load. Testing of single skin and sandwich panels on the newly developed apparatus has been conducted to verify the numerical models. The numerical models and the empirical relationship were used to predict the response of a full scale composite sandwich panel, representative of a lifeboat deck, to a standard cellulosic fire and mechanical load.

This thesis develops the principles of nuclear control which are derived from control models initially developed in the 1940s, namely, The Acheson-Lilienthal Report, and the Baruch Plan. Authors of these works aspired to create a grand disarmament scheme establishing an international authority to manage nuclear energy and to prevent states from diverting nuclear energy production to nuclear weapon development. They identified principles, which they believed needed to be incorporated in any nuclear control plan, if the plan was to be effective in promoting international security and stability. The thesis then examines control models that were actually established and explores how they diverged from the suggested principles identified previously. In protecting states' economic and political sovereignty, a series of compromises were made on meeting principles of control. Political realities forced states to settle on a national inspection system (the International Atomic Energy Agency Safeguards System) which sought to detect the diversion of nuclear materials from peaceful uses to nuclear weapons. This type system was initially considered by analysts of the Baruch era but was emphatically rejected as having weaknesses that would undermine the system's effectiveness. Although decision makers were aware of the damage that compromises on the principles could have on the control system's effectiveness, they believed some imperfect control system was better than none at all. The thesis shows that departures of the established model from the earlier model weakened control system effectiveness as predicted by Baruch era analysts. This less rigourous adopted approach achieved broad international acceptability, but could not provide sufficient assurances to all parties. As a consequence, some governments took unilateral action to enhance their security in the face of inadequate controls and/or engaged in efforts to strengthen the system. The mechanisms they created incorporated some of the basic nuclear control principles originally identified a half-century earlier but were rejected on political grounds. The thesis sheds light on the difficulties in implementing control and the relevance of these implementation problems for disarmament. It highlights the struggle between states' desires for more credible systems requiring greater sacrifices on national sovereignty and a need for broad adherence to international control demanding less intrusiveness and wider benefits. The thesis reveals a long-term trend that states appear more willing to accept international control measures as globalisation occurs and concludes that the control system is evolving towards incorporating the principles identified in the 1940s that were not included in the established system.

There is considerable research to date in the field of stress, particularly with respect to questionnaire research. There is, however, a lack of recent research on stress in the British Army which addresses either traumatic or organisational stress. This study considers soldiers' experiences of both occupational and traumatic stress, in addition to identifying the contribution of an individual's expectations and evaluations of a deployment, on mental well-being. Furthermore, this research methodology incorporates standardised psychological questionnaires, free response items and interviews with personnel, which serve to provide a comprehensive approach with high face validity. This study aims to encompass the major aspects which influence the onset and course of stress, including stress experiences, individual differences and coping, in one model. Both studies incorporate traumatic and organisational stress, which is particularly relevant in the military profession, where there is risk of exposure to traumatic events. This study attempts to redress the paucity of research on stress in the British Army as a result of conflicts since WWII, in addition to countering the lack of research into occupational stress in the British Army, or information of a longitudinal nature. This study also provides a much needed 'baseline' of data across the British Army regarding stress experiences and reactions. The study also incorporates qualitative aspects, where the respondents are asked what they define as stressful experiences, as opposed to completing a list of pre-defined 'stressors', in addition to incorporating interviews to validate the responses. Finally, an individual's evaluation of a situation, or belief in their actions is taken into account in this research. It is argued that this is of particular importance in a military operational context, when soldiers are no longer deploying in defence of their country against an external threat. It was therefore considered important to establish if there were any effects on psychological well-being based on an individual's evaluation of the deployment situation. This research was conducted in two phases: Study 1 which is a cross-sectional study, proportionate to size across the British Army, and Study 2 which is a longitudinal survey, before and after a six month operational deployment to Northern Ireland. The questionnaire material incorporates both standardised questionnaires and a specific Army questionnaire designed for the study. Support was found for the proposed models of both general (Study 1) and operational stress (Study 2). Previous findings were supported concerning the interrelationships between neuroticism, anxiety, emotion focused coping and adverse life events, and were independent of mastery, self esteem, problem focused coping and well-being. Thirty three and thirty nine percent of respondents reported General Health Questionnaire (GHQ12) values above the cut off criteria for Study 1 and Study 2, respectively. Individual differences concerning reported mental health were noted, particularly with respect to age, marital status and the occurrence of a significant life event. Recommendations addressed the lack of clear evidence for adopting a 'screening out' procedure based upon personality characteristics for mainstream Army deployments. It was suggested that the traumatic aspects of the research could benefit from an alternative questionnaire to the Impact of Events Scale (IES), due to some of the difficulties found in using the questionnaire. It was also suggested that coping strategies should be investigated in greater detail, within a more context specific manner with tighter response definitions. Finally, it is believed that the impact of cumulative operational deployments on the mental health of soldiers needs to be thoroughly researched.

This study is a trans-disciplinary and trans-historical investigation into civilian and battlefield contexts in which speaker systems have been utilised by the military-industrial and military-entertainment complexes to apply pressure to mass social groupings and the individuated body. Drawing on authors such as historian/sociologist Michel Foucault, economist Jacques Attali, philosopher Michel Serres, political geographer/urban planner Edward Soja, musician/sonic theorist Steve Goodman, and cultural theorist/urbanist Paul Virilio, this study engages a wide range of texts to orchestrate its arguments. Conducting new strains of viral theory that resonate with architectural, neurological, and political significance, this research provides new and original analysis about the composition of waveformed geography. Ultimately, this study listens to the ways in which the past and current utilisation of sonic, infrasonic, and ultrasonic frequencies as weapons, apparatus for psychological manipulation, and instruments of physiological influence, by industrial, civilian, entertainment, and military organisations, predict future techniques of sociospatialised organisation. In chapter one it is argued that since the inception of wired radio speaker systems into U.S. industrial factories in 1922, the development of sonic strategies based primarily on the scoring of architectonic spatiality, cycles of repetition, and the enveloping dynamics of surround sound can be traced to the sonic torture occurring in Guantanamo Bay during the first decade of the twenty-first century. Exploring the use of surround sound speaker techniques by the FBI during the Waco Siege in Texas, this argument is developed in chapter two. In chapter three it is further contended that the acoustic techniques utilised in the Guantanamo torture cells represent the final modality and the logical conclusion of these strategies that have evolved between civilian and military contexts over the past 80 years. In chapter four, the speaker system instrumentality of the HSS ultrasonic beam - occurring post Guantanamo - comes to symbolise an epistemic shift in the application of waveformed pressure; the dynamics of directional ultrasound technology signalling the orchestration of a new set of frequency-based relations between the transmitter and the receiver, the speaker system and architectural context, and the civilian and war torn environment. The concluding proposition of the study submits that a waveformed cartography - mapping the soundscape's territorialisation by the military-entertainment complex - needs to be composed and arranged so that forms of recording, amplification, and resistance can be made coherent. Given the new set of non-sound politics announced by the HSS, this philosophy of frequency-based mapping will have to re-evaluate the taxonomy and indexical nature of spatial relations. This discipline will be a waveformed psychogeography; a frequency-based modality that heuristically charts the spatial concerns of the neural environment as well as the environs of the material and the built. As a field of research it will have a wide-ranging remit to explore the spatial, psychological, physiological, social, economic, and sexual effects that waveforms have upon our subjectivity. Its methodology - as suggested through the structuring of this study - will be multi-disciplined and multi-channelled. It will create new forms of knowledge about LRADs, iPods, Mosquitos, I ntonarumori , loudhailers, and Sequential Arc Discharge Acoustic Generators - the meta-network of speaker systems through which rhythms and cadences of power are transmitted, connected, and modulated.

The central proposition of this work is that a battlefield’s location sits at the intersection of three interlinked variables of terrain, tactics, and force composition, which exist in a symbiotic relationship. Furthermore, this intersection can be located through qualitative modelling within GIS against an informed digital landscape reconstruction. The hypothesis assumes that tactics and force composition are culturally relative. Moreover, they are temporally constrained aspects of a tri-poled dialectic, and state changes in the nature of these aspects will result in correlative shifts in the types of terrain that are chosen for conflict. To analyse these aspects, a theoretical framework of human agency in the selection of terrain for conflict, was developed. This theoretical position utilises a modified version of the military terrain analysis KOCOA for the purposes of visualising abstract theory, and highlighting Key Terrain aspects as a means of predicting conflict locations. To apply this theoretical framework, a phased methodology for historic landscape reconstruction within GIS was created, allowing the modelling of possible locations as a desk-based assessment approach. To model likely battlefield locations within the wider landscape, the theoretical framework posits a culturally and temporally relative habitus, experientially formed through regular experience with conflict. By analysing the digitally reconstructed battlescapes with the theoretical approach, we can model and highlight the Key Terrain an agent’s habitus would have inculcated them to choose. This Key Terrain will be distinct for each time period, reflecting culturally and temporally distinct ways of warfare, and reflexive choices of ideal terrain. The theory and method were tested through application to Scottish battlefields, with general locations known, from each major period of warfare. A study of the praxis of warfare for each period was undertaken, to fully understand the underlying structure of the habitus of conflict for each period. The historic battlescapes were reconstructed, and analysed within GIS using Culturally Relative KOCOA, projecting the agent’s habitus onto the landscape, modelling areas that were probable as focuses for conflict. This modelling process was applied to the medieval battles of Dunbar (1296), Roslin (1302), Bannockburn (1314), the Post-Medieval battles of Flodden (1513), Ancrum (1545), Pinkie (1547), and the Early Modern battles of Kilsyth (1645), Philiphaugh (1645), and Dunbar II (1650). After the modelling process was completed in GIS, selecting the most likely location of conflict within the battlescape, distributions of battle-related artefactual evidence—where available—were used to check the locations suggested by the model against artefact data. Based on these results, I argue that the theoretical and methodological approach herein can be utilized as a desk-based approach to find forgotten fields. It is a modelling process that can be performed utilizing the theoretical and methodological framework as a desk-based assessment, prior to any fieldwork, and would function to focus any investigations-on-high-priority-areas.

The current structural sizing process used to design military aircraft was developed when the emphasis was on the design of the most advanced products possible, with the customer bearing the associated risks of its development. However the marketplace has evolved into where the customer expects ‘better, cheaper, faster’ products and at a lower degree of risk. It is not clear if the current structural design processes meet the needs of this type of market. This work argues that the current proprietary process should be replaced by one that is more flexible, allowing the company to adapt its current structural sizing process to meet the needs of a particular product. It includes a study of the current and future engineering environment within a ‘typical’ airframe design organisation. It looked at the current use of structural optimisation technology throughout the design lifecycle and identified barriers to the potential benefits of wider use. Two existing elements of the organisation’s in-house toolset were adapted to size components and the results compared against the literature. This provided an insight into the toolset and the development of proprietary tools. Finally a multilevel ‘global-local’ sizing approach was developed and studied as an alternative to the current, more tightly coupled, somewhat ‘monolithic’, sizing system. Strength, stability and stiffness design criteria were considered. Automation of the process was also considered and compared against the existing sizing process. It was found that the current labour intensive sizing process could be improved upon using some simple techniques. Based on this a future structural sizing process is suggested which could be implemented using in-house or commercially available tools.