This dissertation describes the measurement of angular diameters of compact radio sources by the technique of interplanetary scintillation. The design, construction and testing of a four acre radio aerial functioning at a frequency of 81.5 MHz is described, and its operation during a survey of the sky between declinations -07° and +46° and right ascensions ten hours and sixteen hours. The calibration of the apparatus is explained and the method of analysis of the output from the receiving equipment. The theory of interplanetary scintillation has been adapted to this frequency and extended, especially for the case of radio sources at large solar elongations. More stringent limits have been set on the rate of change with distance from the sun of the size of the irregularities in the interplanetary medium. Some nine hundred radio sources have been studied in the survey, and one hundred and ninety-four have been found to contain structure of angular dimension less than one second of arc. Limits have been put on all the others. Fifty per cent of sources in the 3C catalogue have been found to show interplanetary scintillations. Angular diameters of eighty-five sources have been measured: these measured values are in good agreement with other existing measurements, and values are now available for a large number of sources in the 4C catalogue in the area covered by the survey. The radio source 3C 273 has been found to contain two small diameter components, and the more compact of these to be surprisingly strong. A more rigorous test of the correlation between spectral index of and the presence or absence of fine structure in a source has been carried out. A correlation between an enhancement of scintillation and a reduction in cosmic ray index has been noted. A description of the discovery of pulsed radio sources is given.

The aerials event of freestyle skiing is a relatively new discipline having only been introduced into the Olympic Games as a medal event in 1994. The purpose of this study was to develop a simulation model for the takeoff phase of aerials, with the intention of learning more about how the requisite linear and angular velocities at takeoff are generated. Experimental data was collected for six triple somersaulting aerial jumps. The jumps were filmed with four high-speed video cameras and a total of 17 points were manually digitised for each camera view of each jump. The digitised coordinates were reconstructed using a three dimensional direct linear transformation (3D-DLT) and processed using a film program written in FORTRAN. The program produced kinematic data for the takeoff phase of the six jumps. A simulation model for takeoff was developed, comprising of a rod (body) and a ski. At the connection between the rod and the ski is a passive torque, governed by the stiffness coefficient K. Experimental values for the height of the centre of mass (CoM), moment of inertia (MoI), initial linear velocity (VG) and initial angular velocity (ωpg) were used as model inputs. A combined drag and air resistance coefficient (D) was varied with K to match the experimental VG and ωpg at takeoff, resulting in an average difference of -0.07% for VG, and -16.10% for ωpg. A straight body simulation was run, eliminating the effect of joint angle changes on CoM height and MoI, it was found that a straight body matches the experimental data just as well as a simulation using joint angles. This result suggests that joint angles changes play a different role, other than to generate angular and linear velocity. Further alterations were made to the model parameters; K was varied, which increased the angle of the CoM behind the normal to the skis (ψ) as K increased. Initial angular velocity was varied with results suggesting that a forwards leaning motion at the start of the kicker generated a larger angular velocity at takeoff. An additional ankle torque was implemented for the final 0.1s of takeoff, this increased ωpg and reduced the difference to just -3.01%. Conclusions were drawn that the passive torque of the skis and an additional ankle torque prior to takeoff play a large role in governing takeoff conditions.

The artistic research, Kehrä/ Kehrae is done together with Myrsky Rönkä, with significant ropes, places and spaces, creatures and histories. This paper is subtitled entwining possible worlds. It implies alternative possibilities for prevailing modern western ways to live and die and circus. There are three big questions in the air: What is the meaning of circus? What does it mean to be alive? And how could circus care (the existence of life within the earth)? The starting point was a concern about the troubling state of life and the world how it is today and how the modern western circus felt paradoxical and incapable of responding to the current times in sustainable ways. The initial question was, how to combine circus and other aspects of life into one sustainable, or regenerative and renewable practice. In order to seek other, latent realities this research goes beyond modern western circus history, beyond modern western worldview, and beyond “ordinary” circus practice.  The guiding idea is: life is circus, circus is life. Therefore the practice in this research is a collection of “whatever we were doing”. To mention some with great importance: whirling, meditation, becoming-with rope, making and mapping space with ropes and strings, dwelling with nature, and sauna. The other idea is to go through liminality and evoke communitas, with circus practice, bodies, ropes, and others.  This means abandoning accustomed ways to train and think about circus and life. Because of its nature, this work is also opening up what could spiritual (circus) practice mean as an alternative to a mechanistic way of thinking and making. The ontology of this research is animistic and relational, which suggests care, respect, reciprocity, and response-ability in all of our relations and takes into account the circulative nature of time and life. Animistic ontology takes materiality and skill towards the idea of becoming-with, when becoming into who and what happens in relational material-semiotic worlding. During the process, some specific features, or dwelling places for circus, emerged. Those are circus and play, circus and liminality, circus and shamanism, circus and others. In these dwelling places lies the deep powers of circus to be inversive and subversive, simultaneously transformative and sustaining: the mythical power of circus. Through the final artistic outcome Kehrä/ Kehrae, this paper is entwining the strings of the research together as a temporary gathering to be unraveled and intertwined into one again.

The thesis described the proposal for a wireless network problems. There are recorded and compared the characteristics of different wireless technologies. The possibility of voice communication securing is outlined and solutions implemented in the form of ZRTP protocol. The requirements for quality of service are discussed and the solutions to this issue are proposed. Other chapters are devoted to the actual design of specific equipment, including antennas and advance resource. The whole network is practically implemented in the mountainous countryside of eastern Wallachia. In conclusion, this work is network mate in terms of QoS (quality of service) and tested in terms of prioritization of voice communication.