Spin-dependent electron transport in submicron/nano sized magnetic thin film devices fabricated using the optical lithography, e-beam lithography and focused ion beam (FIB) was investigated with the primary aim to find the ballistic magnetoresistance (BMR) in thin film nanoconstrictions. All experimental results were analysed in combination with micromagnetic simulations. The magnetisation reversal processes were investigated in a submicron half-pinned NiFe stripe with a microconstriction. An asymmetric MR curve was observed, and micromagnetic simulations verified it was due to the exchange-bias on the left side, which changed the magnetic switching mechanism. The effects of different pinning sites on the magnetisation switching and domain wall displacement were studied in NiFe film and spin-valve based nanodevices. A sign of domain wall MR was seen on the transversal MR curve of the NiFe nanodevice due to the domain wall induced electron scattering. The size effect on the magnetisation switching and interlayer magnetostatic coupling was demonstrated and characterised in synthetic antiferromagnet (SAF)-pinned spin-valve nanorings. It has been clarified by micromagnetic simulations that these nanorings exhibit a double or single magnetisation switching process, which is determined by the magnetostatic coupling as a function of the ring diameter. The interlayer magnetostatic coupling was efficiently reduced in large SAF-pinned nanorings, resulting in a small shift of the minor MR curve, which is beneficial to the magnetic memory applications. In-situ MR measurements and the investigation of domain wall properties have been carried out in FIB patterned NiFe film nanoconstrictions. Spin-valve like sharp transitions were observed on the MR curves in the 80 nm/130 nm wide nanoconstriction devices. However, our analysis of the results by micromagnetic simulations and domain observations with scanning electron microscopy with polarisation analysis (SEMPA) concluded that these sharp MR transitions originated from the anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) effect, due to the fast magnetisation rotation in the nanoconstriction, and not from BMR. The numerical investigation has proved that a further reduction of the constriction width/length is necessary for large MR values.

During the dot com era the word 'personalisation' was a hot buzzword. With the fall of the dot com companies the topic has lost momentum. As the killer application for UMTS or the mobile internet has yet to be identified, the concept of Multi-Dimensional-Personalisation (MDP) could be a candidate. Using this approach, a recommendation of mobile advertisement or marketing (i.e., recommendations or notifications), online content, as well as offline events, can be offered to the user based on their known interests and current location. Instead of having to request or pull this information, the new service concept would proactively provide the information and services – with the consequence that the right information or service could therefore be offered at the right place, at the right time. The growing availability of "Location-based Services“ for mobile phones is a new target for the use of personalisation. "Location-based Services“ are information, for example, about restaurants, hotels or shopping malls with offers which are in close range/short distance to the user. The lack of acceptance for such services in the past is based on the fact that early implementations required the user to pull the information from the service provider. A more promising approach is to actively push information to the user. This information must be from interest to the user and has to reach the user at the right time and at the right place. This raises new requirements on personalisation which will go far beyond present requirements. It will reach out from personalisation based only on the interest of the user. Besides the interest, the enhanced personalisation has to cover the location and movement patterns, the usage and the past, present and future schedule of the user. This new personalisation paradigm has to protect the user's privacy so that an approach supporting anonymous recommendations through an extended 'Chinese Wall' will be described.

With the end of Western Roman rule and the emergence of new polities in the medieval world, it has been assumed that the technology of mortar reverted to a weak and friable building material. However, this period brought about the implementation of large-scale construction projects that still remain as a testament to their high quality construction techniques and materials. In order to meet the needs of its growing populace, the infrastructure of the new capital city of Constantinople was bolstered by these projects, many rivaling the scale and intricacy of Imperial Rome. A prime example of this is the extensive channel networks of the fourth and fifth centuries, built in the hinterland of Constantinople to supply fresh water from springs hundreds of kilometres away. In addition, the sixth century Long Wall of Thrace was built from the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara as a first line of defense against increased aggression. This project examines the tradition of monumental construction in the Late Antique and early Byzantine world through laboratory analysis of mortars and valuations of the structural makeup of the Water Supply of Constantinople and Anastasian Wall. By investigating the material technology, scale, and labour requirements of these systems, a better understanding can be gained of two of the largest building project of the early medieval period.

In this thesis we investigate wall-crossing phenomena in the stability manifold of an irreducible principally polarized abelian surface for objects with the same invariants as (twists of) ideal sheaves of points. In particular, we construct a sequence of fine moduli spaces which are related by Mukai flops and observe that the stability of these objects is completely determined by the configuration of points. Finally, we use Fourier-Mukai theory to show that these moduli are projective.

Atherosclerosis is often diagnosed using an ultrasound (US) examination in the carotid and femoral arteries and the abdominal aorta. A decision to operate requires two measures of disease severity: the degree of stenosis measured using B-mode US; and the blood flow patterns in the artery measured using spectral Doppler US. However other biomechanical factors such as wall shear stress (WSS) and areas of flow recirculation are also important in disease development and rupture. These are estimated using an image-guided modelling approach, where a three-dimensional computational mesh of the artery is simulated. To generate a patient-specific arterial 3D computational mesh, a 3D ultrasound (3DUS) system was developed. This system uses a standard clinical US scanner with an optical position sensor to measure the position of the transducer; a video capture card to record video images from the scanner; and a PC running Stradwin software to reconstruct 3DUS data. The system was characterised using an industry-standard set of calibration phantoms, giving a reconstruction accuracy of ± 0.17 mm with a 12MHz linear array transducer. Artery movements from pulsatile flow were reduced using a retrospective gating technique. The effect of pressure applied to the transducer moving and deforming the artery was reduced using an image-based rigid registration technique. The artery lumen found on each 3DUS image was segmented using a semi-automatic segmentation technique known as ShIRT (the Sheffield Image Registration Toolkit). Arterial scans from healthy volunteers and patients with diagnosed arterial disease were segmented using the technique. The accuracy of the semi-automatic technique was assessed by comparing it to manual segmentation of each artery using a set of segmentation metrics. The mean accuracy of the semi-automatic technique ranged from 85% to 99% and depended on the quality of the images and the complexity of the shape of the lumen. Patient-specific 3D computational artery meshes were created using ShIRT. An idealised mesh was created using key features of the segmented 3DUS scan. This was registered and deformed to the rest of the segmented dataset, producing a mesh that represents the shape of the artery. Meshes created using ShIRT were compared to meshes created using the Rhino solid modelling package. ShIRT produced smoother meshes; Rhino reproduced the shape of arterial disease more accurately. The use of 3DUS with image-guided modelling has the potential to be an effective tool in the diagnosis of atherosclerosis. Simulations using these data reflect in vivo studies of wall shear stress and recirculation in diseased arteries and are comparable with results in the literature created using MRI and other 3DUS systems.

Jean-Philippe Dallaire (1916 - 1965) est reconnu comme l’un des peintres canadiens les plus doués de sa génération. Guidé par un savoir-faire exceptionnel et par une imagination féconde, il a produit des œuvres nombreuses et variées durant une carrière qui s’étend sur plus de trente années dont presque la moitié en France. Considéré autodidacte par les historiens et les critiques d’art, il suit néanmoins un parcours d’étude qui le place sans ambages dans la lignée artistique de l’École française. L’étude des commandes qu’il exécute en art mural montre les multiples influences qu’il absorbe et surtout le respect rigoureux des préceptes de ses grands maîtres, Maurice Denis et André Lhote d’abord, et par la suite Jean Lurçat. Mais ces ascendants n’atténuent jamais l’originalité de sa manière. Si ses premières œuvres murales liturgiques montrent une recherche dirigée par le milieu religieux dans lequel il gravite, après la guerre, suite à son retour au Canada, ses œuvres murales, religieuses et profanes, révèlent un respect marqué des caractéristiques de la grande peinture. / Jean-Philippe Dallaire (1916 - 1965) is recognised as one of the most talented Canadian painters of his generation. Guided by an exceptional aptitude and a fertile imagination, he produced numerous and varied paintings during a career that spanned over thirty years, almost half of which in France. Considered as self-taught by art historians and art critics, he nonetheless pursued a course of study that positioned him within the clearly defined tradition of the French School. An attentive study of the mural art works he accomplished shows the multiple influences he absorbed, but mainly the rigorous respect of the precepts he acquired from two great masters, Maurice Denis and André Lhote, and later from Jean Lurçat. But these constituents, although they link him to his French genesis, never lessened the originality of his style. If his first religious murals are strongly tainted by the spiritual environment in which he gravitated, his mural art, religious or profane, following his return from France after the war, demonstrate a scrupulous respect of the features that identify masterpiece.

Richmond, Virginia is defined by our connection to the James River. The James River Park system stretches over 550 acres of natural beauty. The park is broken into 14 different sections from the Huguenot Bridge in the west to a half mile beyond the I-95 Bridge in the east. The James River includes water features that appeal to the young and curious to the most experienced river-adventurer. The James River Park System boasts idyllic shorelines, peaceful meadows, and miles of challenging hiking and biking trails that appeal to the community and guests alike. Every year thousands of people come to Richmond for activities and events like the XTerra Races, Dominion RiverRock, the Folk Festival and many more. Amazingly, at this time, there are no convenient downtown or riverfront facilities to allow locals and guests of Richmond to interact with the James River Park system. With use of the Pattern Building at Tredegar Iron Works, this project will combine the ideas of biophilia, and eco-tourism to design a boutique hotel that will cater to outdoor enthusiasts. In addition to guest suites, this boutique hotel will offer an outdoor recreation rental, retail and repair facility that will offer bikes, kayaks, tubes, paddle-boards, climbing equipment and other essentials for outdoor exploration. A small cafe will offer healthy, locally sourced, farm to table snack and drink options. Both indoor and outdoor seating areas and/or lounges will be available for relaxation. The outdoor patio will feature an interactive garden and give guests a place to enjoy scenic views, practice yoga, meditate and relax. In addition this space could be rented to host special events. The term Biophilia was first used by a German-born American psychoanalyst Erich Fromm in The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness (1973), which described the term as “the passionate love of life and of all that is alive”. Later the term was used by American biologist Edward O. Wilson in his work Biophilia (1984), that proposed that humans tendency to focus and affiliate with nature and other life-forms has a genetic basis. Humans biologically gravitate toward the rich and diverse shapes, colors and life that exists in the natural world. As we are drawn to the natural world, we also benefit from it. Nature nurtures us and has a positive effect on our health, well-being and happiness. Research led by Yoshifumi Miyazaki at Chiba University sent 84 subjects to stroll in seven different forests, while the same number of people walked city centers. Overall, those who spent time in the forest, showed a 16% decrease in the stress hormone cortisol, a 2% drop in blood pressure, and a 4% drop in heart rate. Although we spend nearly 90% of our lives indoors, those interior environments often do not reflect the characteristics of nature, trigger a positive emotional response, and are not often designed in a sustainable manner. Too often, our surroundings are designed in a way that deteriorate the environment and separate us from the natural world. The built environment of this project will emphasize the human need for contact with nature that is good for physical, emotional and physiological benefit and satisfaction. While Eco-Tourism is not a new concept the popularity of Eco-tourism increased in the 1980’s when large scale educational efforts by the government touted the benefits of conserving and protecting the environment and planet. Eco-Tourism is a piece of the “Green Movement” (scientific, social and political movement addressing environmental issues) but since there has been an increase in information about how people are negatively impacting the planet. The travel industry has been considered a strong influence and a demand for green hotels, restaurants and transportation is on the rise. Eco-Tourism is defined as “responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment, sustains the well-being of the local people, and involves interpretation and education”. Tourism often comes with its footprint on the environment. Tourism and hospitality must be sustainable. How can we still enjoy the natural wonders of the world yet minimize our impact? By exploring the concepts of Eco-tourism this project will reflect a positive environment and educate visitors on how to make their own changes. Guests will be encouraged to interact with the natural wonders of Richmond in a low impact manner, so that it may remain for others to enjoy. Research begins by understanding terms like sustainability, Eco-tourism and biophilic design and continues by researching and experiencing examples of them. By studying cases like Frank Lloyd Wrights project “Falling Water” and Mies van der Rohe’s project “Farnworth House,” understanding of a unique connection to the organic environment can occur. By studying Swedish architects Martin Videgard and Bolle Thams project “Tree Hotel” ways to incorporate travel with nature will be discovered. Finally by studying Agence Ter’s project the “Pudong Left Bank” in Shanghai inspiration on how to encourage a city to interact with its natural environment will occur. The goal of this project is to understand the relationship between human and nature and how it can be controlled and how we can benefit from an Interior Environment.

Tree-ring based climate reconstructions have been critical for understanding past variability and recent trends in climate worldwide, but they are scarce in Australia. This is particularly the case for temperature: only one tree-ring width based temperature reconstruction – based on Huon Pine trees from Mt Read, Tasmania – exists for Australia. Here, we investigate whether additional tree- ring parameters derived from Athrotaxis cupressoides trees growing in the same region have potential to provide robust proxy records of past temperature variability. We measured wood properties, including tree-ring width (TRW), mean density, mean cell wall thickness (CWT), and tracheid radial diameter (TRD) of annual growth rings in Athrotaxis cupressoides, a long-lived, high-elevation conifer in central Tasmania, Australia. Mean density and CWT were strongly and negatively correlated with summer temperatures. In contrast, the summer temperature signal in TRW was weakly positive. The strongest climate signal in any of the tree-ring parameters was maximum temperature in January (mid-summer; JanTmax) and we chose this as the target climate variable for reconstruction. The model that explained most of the variance in JanTmax was based on TRW and mean density as predictors. TRW and mean density provided complementary proxies with mean density showing greater high-frequency (inter-annual to multi-year) variability and TRW showing more low-frequency (decadal to centennial-scale) variability. The final reconstruction model is robust, explaining 55% of the variance in JanTmax, and was used to reconstruct JanTmax for the last five centuries (1530–2010 C.E.). The reconstruction suggests that the most recent 60 years have been warmer than average in the context of the last ca. 500 years. This unusually warm period is likely linked to a coincident increase in the intensity of the subtropical ridge and dominance of the positive phase of the Southern Annular Mode in summer, which weaken the influence of the band of prevailing westerly winds and storms on Tasmanian climate. Our findings indicate that wood properties, such as mean density, are likely to provide significant contributions toward the development of robust climate reconstructions in the Southern Hemisphere and thus toward an improved understanding of past climate in Australasia.

Research using microalgae Chlorella vulgaris was conducted in order to determine the maximum CO2 concentration under which algae can grow, within the emission range from oil and natural gas burning plants (0-20%). After choosing the optimal CO2 percentage, pH and alkalinity were determined; and finally, an electrochemical (EC) batch reactor connected to DC current was applied to achieve algae cell annihilation, and therefore, facilitate anaerobic digestion, methane production and energy recovery. It was determined that algae can grow under 20% CO2, being 15% CO2 the most effective (pH of 6.64 and alkalinity of 617.5 mg/L CaCO3). Electroporation using an electrochemical batch reactor is effective in breaking cells membranes, which simplifies anaerobic digestion process and methane production. The parameters found effective for completely breaking the algae cell are: detention time of 1 more or less 0.5 minutes, and minimum voltage and current of 65 Volts/285 ml and 3.9 Amps/285 ml, respectively

Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TTC) is a disease characterized by transient left ventricular (LV) dysfunction and typical wall motion abnormalities in apical parts, without obvious signs of coronary influence. Due to its elusive natural cause and the lack of clarified pathology, further studies are needed. Thirteen patients presented with an episode of TTC, and referred to Örebro University Hospital (USÖ), were prospectively included and investigated by comparisons made at onset (acute phase) against at follow-up three months later (recovery phase). Including echocardiographic measurements, focused on biventricular systolic long-axis function and conventional diastolic function (DF) variables. Systolic improvement was shown, while most DF data were unchanged, suggesting that TTC is mainly a systolic disease affecting both ventricles. Diagnosis should include multidisciplinary engagement, as TTC associates both with emotional stress and pathological markers of physiological stress. In this thesis, such approach was offered to the aforementioned patients; to see if a common denominator could be found, thus, contributing to better handling. Emotional state was assessed, along with an array of cardiac investigations in addition to echocardiography. Acutely, imbalance in the autonomic cardiac control was shown, as well as a trend toward posttraumatic stress, but specific findings allowing conclusions on differential diagnosis could not be demonstrated. By adding another 15 TTC patients (i.e. 28 in total), through collaboration with observers from USA, a retrospective echocardiographic analysis could be done to further study DF; concluding that TTC associates with impairment of conventional DF variables which tends to parallel the systolic recovery, in contrary to the initial result but in line with other causesof LV dysfunction. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is another method of choice at TTC. The USÖ patients had cardiac MRI, thus, a retrospective analysis was done to investigate the effect on LV geometry, both echocardiographic and by MRI; suggesting that TTC is consistently associated with increased LV mass, due to a local impact that seems to follow the change in LVconcentric wall motion.