A 147cm sediment core from Lake DV09, northern Devon Island, Nunavut, Canada (75° 34’34”N, 89° 18’55”W) contains annually-laminated (varved) sediments, providing a 1600-year record of climate variability. A minerogenic lamina deposited during the annual thaw period and a thin deposit of organic matter deposited during the summer and through the winter, together form a clastic-organic couplet each year. The thinnest varves occur from AD800-1050, and the thickest from AD1100-1300, during the Medieval Warm Period. The relative sediment density is also highest during this period suggesting increased sediment transport energy. The coldest period of the Little Ice Age appears to be during the AD1600s. Varve widths over the past century indicate climate warming in the region. / This research program was funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), and the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences (CFCAS). A tuition bursary from Ultramar Inc. also helped in making this research possible. Logistical support was provided by the Polar Continental Shelf Project (PCSP Contribution number 04508).

Scope and contents: An investigation into some arctic soils located on Southwest Devon Island. Some aspects of chemical weathering in the area are considered and detailed studies of patterned ground are undertaken. A terrain map was compiled to locate the major areas of soils and mineral and organic covers and to show this relationship to relief units. / No abstract provided. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

Artefacts relating to tin smelting from tin mills or ¿blowing houses¿ in Devon and Cornwall, plus material from smelting sites that cover a range of dates from the Bronze Age through to the 19th Century, were examined: these include metallic tin, furnace linings, ore samples and slag. Analysis of tin slags from over forty sites was carried out, to determine microstructure and chemical composition. Techniques employed included optical and scanning electron microscopy, X-ray fluorescence and ICP mass spectrometry. Analysis indicates that slag appearance and composition are heavily influenced by local geology. Composition, particularly iron content, is shown to have a strong effect on slag melting point and viscosity, and the implications for the purity of metal produced are discussed. Bringing together the evidence provided by slag chemistry, documentary sources and smelting remains in the archaeological record, changes in tin smelting technology through time, and the consequences thereof, are considered. / R. F. Tylecote Memorial Fund, administered by the Historical Metallurgy Society, and the Francis Raymond Hudson Memorial Fund.

Torre Abbey was a rural Premonstratensian monastery in south-east Devon. Although in many ways atypical of its order, not least in the quality and quantity of its surviving source material, Torre provides an excellent case study of how a medium-sized medieval monastery interacted with the world around it, and how the abbey itself was affected by that interaction. Divided into three broad sections, this thesis first examines the role of local landowners and others as patrons of the house in the most obvious sense, that of the bestowal of lands or other assets upon the house. Torre was relatively successful in this regard, and an examination of the architectural and archaeological record indicates a continuation of that relationship after the thirteenth century. The second section notes areas of conflict with the laity. Disputes could and did arise over both temporal and spiritual affairs, as well as through the involvement of a number of lay figures in the administration and patronage of the house. In both respects, notable incidents in the mid-fourteenth century highlight the complexities of the canons’ relationships with the secular world. These are further explored in an analysis of the abbey’s role during the Hundred Years’ War and the Wars of the Roses, two conflicts which greatly affected the locality, but required vastly differing approaches by the canons. Finally, the effect of society on the canons themselves is considered. It is possible to recover some picture of their origins, both social and geographic, as well as some idea of the size of the community in the fifteenth century, and discuss the repercussions for an understanding of monastic recruitment. Finally, the dynamic of the community over the entire history of the abbey is considered in terms of the scattered source material, utilising both architectural and documentary evidence.

The extensive survival of late medieval bosses in the roofs of many parish churches in Devon has long been recognised. These carvings escaped the widespread destruction of images during the Reformation through their relative inaccessibility, and yet most have never before been recorded; nor has systematic study been made of their design, their positioning within a sacred space, or the ways in which they may have been viewed and used by a largely illiterate audience. This thesis rectifies this oversight in its detailed documentation and photography of figural roof bosses and contextual information from 121 churches across the county, appended as a gazetteer, and in its thorough analysis, which considers the varied interactions between the people of the parish and their carvings. The thesis reviews the literature on roof bosses in Britain, particularly the work of C.J.P. Cave whose studies have hitherto dominated the field, before considering materiality and method, namely the properties of oak, the dating of the timber, the carvers and the carving process, and the surface finish and visibility of roof bosses. The social, religious, and decorative context is then discussed, especially the role of ecclesiastical authorities in the life of the parish church and its people, and the motivation of patrons, clergy and laity in the decoration of their parish church. An exploration of motifs carved on roof bosses follows, with these motifs linked to other images within the parish church, the cathedral and the wider world, to the words of the sermon and the confessional, and to scriptural texts and popular literature. Medieval understandings of vision are considered, as are the circumstances in which roof bosses may have been seen and used. The thesis argues, in particular, that many bosses may have served as mnemonic devices and aids to prayer in a penitential process which sought to cure the soul of sin. The thesis concludes with case studies of six parish churches from across Devon which confirm that these carvings should be recognised as a significant resource for our understanding of the late medieval parish church and its people in the Diocese of Exeter and beyond.

Denna uppsats handlar om hur Indiens populära mytologiska tv-serier ger de gamla myterna en ny språkdräkt i nya medier. Samtidigt som de får en ny språkdräkt förändras vilka värden som betonas och hur gudarna framställs. Uppsatsen gör en jämförande analys av hur tv-serien Devon Ke Dev Mahadev, som började sändas 2011 på indisk tv, och urkunden Shiva Purana framställer berättelsen om när Shiva först gifter sig med Sati och sedan Parvati. Uppsatsen tar avstamp i postkoloniala teorier, kolonialismens historia och läskunnighet i Indien för att visa på vilka värden som ändrats och försöker även ge en förklaring till förändringen. Uppsatsen diskuterar även myternas förändringsbarhet och flexibilitet.

Many smaller ports in Cornwall and Devon (CAD) are situated in environmentally sensitive habitats and generate benefits for stakeholders and local communities. Such ports are often embedded in tourist based economies. Increasing environmental legislation is placing a strain on the resources of smaller ports making compliance a threat to profitability and thus the future of some ports and local economies. Over-reliance on environmental management systems (EMS) across the ports industry has predominated over the importance of holistic sustainability. This project develops and disseminates a port sustainability management system (PSMS) in CAD, assisting ports to plan marine and maritime operations more sustainably, to facilitate mitigation of potential risks, to increase knowledge and awareness of port sustainability, and to promote the adoption of a proactive stance towards sustainable port management. A constructivist philosophy suited a multiple methods research design which included ethnographic content analysis (ECA), statistical verification of qualitative coding, nine scoping interviews, and eight semi-structured interviews during the main phase of data collection. The seven Harbour Masters (HMs) in this phase represented all port governance types found in the UK. Charmaz’s grounded theory (GT) methodology guided the collection and analysis of primary data between August 2012 and February 2013 to create new theory using an inductive constructivist approach. Validation by fifteen of the thirty local HMs during industry testing revealed numerous advantages and benefits of deploying PSMS which is estimated to generate £50,000 worth of benefits per port annually, and £3,865,005 for the 15 participating ports over 5 years. A new model of smaller port sustainability has emerged. PSMS has eleven pillars of sustainability which underpin the spectrum of port operations. Within this model, each pillar is equally important in contributing to the overall sustainability of a port, and neglect of one could jeopardise sustainability overall and potentially cause a chain reaction with other pillars.

Geoscience operates at the boundary between two worlds; the visible and the invisible. Increasingly, new geological technologies such as hydraulic fracturing, carbon capture and storage (CCS) and radioactive waste disposal are drawing the public’s attention to the ‘invisible’ world of the geological subsurface. This presents unique communication challenges because these technologies exist in a realm that can never be physically seen. This thesis addresses this issue by examining the psychological perceptions of residents in three villages in the south west of England. A representative sample from each village was qualitatively interviewed and mental models were constructed from the resultant data using the ‘mental models’ technique (Morgan et al, 2002). The mental models were then quantitatively tested using a questionnaire to assess the perceptions that a broader sample of the residents of these locations hold towards the geological subsurface. The results from the mental models assessment identified the principal perceptions held by the majority of the public surveyed. In particular, the study revealed the connection between the visible surface and the invisible subsurface and how different participants engaged with that boundary; choosing either a geoscience-centric or an anthropocentric approach to penetrating the surface. These approaches utilised by non-experts differed from those employed by the experts, who used a regionally specific geoscience-centric approach to visualising the subsurface. The work provides an important empirical baseline from which to develop a science-led strategy to engage the general public with new technologies and to increase our understanding of the more broadly held conceptions of the invisible subsurface.

While it is very common for supermodels to make the occasional foray into cinematic performance, and some of them manage to turn these forays into full-time careers in acting, it is very rare that supermodel-actors are afforded any academic attention. This thesis seeks to change this through a case study of two supermodel-actors: Devon Aoki and Abbey Lee. Using a methodology that combines extratextual contextualization with close analysis of image and film materials, and grounded in a perspective that centers the body, it analyzes Aoki and Lee’s careers as they cross over from one form of stardom to another. The focus of the analysis lies in the way that the bodily capital which is the basis of their modelling work also informs their acting personas as they are shaped through their on-screen work, publicity and reception. Furthermore, the thesis applies the concept of niche stardom, adapted from Diane Negra, to illustrate how Aoki and Lee inhabit a stardom which is specific to certain audiences with specific values and tastes. The analysis finds that there is a significant overlap between Aoki and Lee’s modelling and acting personas, and that this overlap is channeled through the representations of their bodies which, are the sites of heterogeneous discourses of gender, sexuality and race.

Extensive sources have been reviewed and analysed to piece together for the first time a detailed academic study of civilian evacuation to Devon viewed against the national backdrop. The primary focus of this thesis is the large number of unaccompanied children who were officially evacuated to the County under the auspices of the Government Evacuation Scheme during the Second World War. However, Chapter Six discusses the evacuation of mothers and accompanying children, unofficial (private) evacuees and private school parties. The majority of evacuated children arriving in Devon originated from the London area and southeastern counties. In addition large numbers of children were also evacuated to the County from Bristol and within the County from Plymouth (Devon) during 1941 and briefly from Exeter in May 1942. Each of the three national evacuation waves is considered individually throughout the text as they are quite distinct in complexion, a fact frequently ignored in generalised accounts which tend to focus on reaction to the initial wave. This thesis argues that: 1. lack of regional and local research has resulted in evacuation largely being viewed in generalised and stereotypical terms without due regard for the socioeconomic and geopolitical variance between those areas involved or the particular localised features of the evacuation process 2. the acclimatisation of evacuated children was particularly successful in Devon and drift back less than the national average 3. local evidence supports the argument that contemporary national reports of impoverished, dirty and ill mannered evacuees were frequently exaggerated 4. evacuation was central in accelerating postwar reform in areas of education, child care and welfare The civilian evacuation during World War Two was a remarkable event in the history of modern Britain. Interest in the subject has recently increased but there is enormous scope and need for further research both to broaden our understanding of the nature and impact of evacuation and to test entrenched views. The over-arching aim of this thesis is to contribute to this exploration.