Based on the fundamentals of visual art and function, this research has developed a product design methodology capable of quantification of the aesthetic qualities and proposing objective solutions to enhance the appearance related variables and characteristics of a product. The objective evaluation has been done via analysis of involuntary responses using eye-tracking data based on the visual perceiving process of design. The result confirmed the reliability of the methodology by generating constant results and a good match between the measured values and declared preference. In addition, the aesthetic enhancement methods based on quantified metrics with the sample designs have been provided. The result of the research suggests that eye-tracking technology is a reliable tool in aesthetic evaluation and has potential for further development.

The novel presents itself as a creative critical artefact, simultaneously fictitious and autoethnographic, borrowing from the disciplines of Fine Art and Film Studies to convey its troubling narrative. England has been torn apart in a civil war over immigration and ethnic minorities, the fighting long over but terrorists persisting in the knowledge that they are right. The Dogs, led by a disillusioned soldier from the traumatising conflict, recruit aimless adolescent boys wanting to be “men”, desensitising them to violence through film and ritualistic savagery. Lee struggles with the ease with which he excels in this world, far removed from his mother and young sister, Cissy, and it is only when he discovers that Muma is regularly prostituting the nine-year-old that his new aptitudes spill into his home. Lee and Cissy escape to the Dog’s base - a House that writes on its own walls, sitting close to the Wall bisecting the country, and it is here that Lee discovers the immolating roots of the faction, and the destructive impetus behind their acts. The artefact is sentient. It obfuscates its own text to protect Cissy, steals the words of other texts amidst scenes of torture to explain itself as it squirms and morphs within the reader’s hands, wrestles with its own abject content and sends endless warnings for the reader to stop and look away. This continues a theme of magical realism that sees animal totems as guardians and a landscape as emotionally scarred as any person by conflict and suffering. Reality is unstable, as are facile presumptions about justice and truth. Closer to Home is an example of practice-led research, wherein the text illuminates and examines the creative process behind writing physical violence, child sexual violence and simulacra violence, finding the domestic and familial roots of abject fiction writing.

Early 17th-century Antwerp, despite political and religious troubles, was a thriving European art centre and home of such renowned artists as Peter Paul Rubens and other painters of his circle, like Jan Brueghel I, Frans Snyders, Anthony van Dyck and Hendrick van Balen. This interdisciplinary thesis in Technical Art History, after a general introduction to this specific art scene, looks at how specific aspects of their studio practice, such as collaborations within and outside their studios or the many copies and versions of their paintings, found manifestation in their works but also in their theoretical concepts. For this an in-depth study and examination of c.20 paintings from mainly Scottish collections (National Galleries of Scotland Edinburgh, Glasgow Museums, Hunterian Art Gallery of the University of Glasgow, Talbot Rice Gallery of the University of Edinburgh, Hopetoun House South Queensferry) was conducted, using detailed photography, multispectral imaging, tracings, dendrochronology, polarised light microscopy and SEM- EDX-analysis of paint samples in cross-sections. The technical examination and analysis, informed by art historical research, significantly aided the answering of questions regarding these paintings’ materials and techniques, as well as they helped to authenticate sometimes contested authorship and date. Four main chapters discuss Frans Snyders’ studio practice focussing on reappearing motifs, Rubens’ tronies, Jan Brueghel’s minute staffage figures in collaborative works, as well as Rubens’ and Brueghel’s painting Nature Adorned by the Graces. An own chapter critically discusses the test results of the application of Stable Lead Isotope Analysis on paint samples, which were carried out at the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC).

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"As the demand for bandwidth increases, the inefficient use of the spectrum becomes more apparent and limiting. Currently, secondary (unlicensed) users can not use sparsely occupied portions of radio spectrum that are not allocated to them. In prior research, a variant of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex (OFDM) called Non-Contiguous OFDM (NC-OFDM) was found to be a suitable transmission technique for enabling Dynamic Spectrum Access, which allows for multiple secondary users to share the spectrum. This thesis presents an algorithm for the synchronization of NC-OFDM. Moreover, a hardware architecture is proposed for the synchronization, and a pruned FFT/IFFT core is designed. At present, there has been minimal research into synchronization for NC-OFDM systems. As with any modulation scheme, synchronization is an important part for receiving the transmission successfully. The current synchronization scheme is simulated in variety of wireless channels to show that it can successfully communicate in the tested channels. Additionally a hardware architecture is laid out for the practical implementation of the synchronization algorithm. Since NC-OFDM does not use all of the carriers for transmission, the FFT and IFFT can have their computations reduced. Since the FFT and IFFT are important parts to the receiver and the transmitter, a pruned FFT/IFFT in hardware makes the most sense to be able to reduced the computation. The number of butterfly computations is reduced at the expense of a large increase in resource usage. "

Due to the ever increasing dependency on existing wireless technologies and the growing usage of sophisticated wireless devices, the demand for bandwidth is rising exponentially. Also, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has reserved a considerable amount of spectrum for licensed users. As a result, the unlicensed spectrum usage is constrained to the overcrowded unlicensed spectrum. Various spectral management surveys have indicated inefficient spectrum utilization in the licensed spectral bands. The congested unlicensed spectrum and inefficiently used licensed frequency bands calls for an approach to use the available spectrum opportunistically. Therefore, the concept of "Spectrum Pooling", which is based on Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA), was proposed to make the unused sections of licensed spectrum available to the unlicensed users. In Spectrum Pooling, an empty section of licensed spectrum is borrowed by a secondary user for certain period of time without interfering with the licensed user. Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is a transmission scheme that is a candidate for Spectrum Pooling since it is capable of forming an adaptive spectral shape that allows coexistence of licensed and unlicensed users while attemting to minimize any interference. Subcarriers in the OFDM signal can be deactivated to generate Non-Contiguous OFDM (NC-OFDM). Even though NC-OFDM allows efficient use of available spectrum, it causes out of band (OOB) radiation, which adversely affects the performance of adjacent user. This thesis presents two novel techniques for combat the effects of OOB radiation generated by NC-OFDM. The proposed techniques employ a filtering-based approach combined with the technique of windowing in order to suppress the unwanted sidelobes by around 35dB-40dB. The attenuation is achieved without affecting other transmission parameters of the secondary user significantly.

Idioms, as multi-word units that contain literal and figurative meanings, are inherently complex and thus unsurprisingly difficult to acquire for second language learners. Though experimental studies on idioms have been carried out with pedagogically minded foci, none have examined the differential effects picture type has on correct interpretation of meaning or meaning recall. Because idioms have both literal and figurative senses, they can be pictorially expressed via either or both of their dual meanings. However, no one has yet tested whether figurative elements in pictures will aid or confuse second language learners when presented alongside idioms. Thus, the primary aim of this thesis is to experimentally test how different kinds of pictures affect the way in which second language learners interpret and recall the figurative meaning of metaphorical idioms. Furthermore, the role of semantic transparency and how it impacts the effectiveness of the picture type is examined. The overarching finding suggests that metaphorically imbued pictures overall facilitate the learning of idioms. However, highly contextualized pictures have the potential to mislead learners in specific and often unpredictable ways. In addition to the pedagogical implications uncovered, this thesis also addresses the nature of semantic transparency and teacher attitudes on idioms.

The aim of this Thesis was on one side to contribute to a better understanding of the phases formed in the TiAlSiN(O) system and the influence of impurities on their properties. On the other side it was also aimed in the Thesis to individually study the phases forming the nanocomposite. In each chapter the individual conclusions from that particular chapter are presented, a summary of the most relevant conclusions and achievements is listed below. ¡à Ti1-xAlxN(O) coatings The optical properties of Ti1-xAlxN(O) coatings were investigated. By changing the Al content in the coatings the properties change from the metallic character of TiN to dielectric character of AlN allowing to obtain spectrally selective coatings. For high Al content the films show low infrared reflectance and high emittance resulting in low equilibrium temperature, characteristics suitable for example for satellite temperature control. While the low emittance and high absorptance of low Al content are adequate for solar absorbers. The thermal stability of the low Al content coatings was investigated and the coatings are stable up to 400 ¨¬C without much change in the optical properties. ¡à SiyNz(O) coatings The silicon oxynitride coatings proved to be themselves interesting for their optical properties, specially the refractive index. The control of the microstructure was the key factor to control the optical properties of the coatings. Low energetic conditions in pure nitrogen atmosphere lead to the formation of closed porosity (nanovoids). The Raman results proved the encapsulation of nitrogen in the pores. Changing the N2 fraction in the gas mixture during deposition allows (at low power) to produce coatings with similar composition and mechanical properties presenting different refractive index by the introduction of the closed porosity. The closed porosity in the coatings is stable in N2 and vacuum up to 900 ¨¬C. Changing the target-substrate distance allows to produce coatings with different size of nanovoids. The possibility to extend the deposition of porous (close porosity) coatings to other systems is demonstrated. Porous silicon coatings were deposited by this method. ¡à nc-Ti1-xAlxN/a-SiyNz(O) coatings It was found from the XRD, SAED, EELS and XPS results, of coatings deposited under low energetic conditions, that the coatings are composed of a nanocrystalline cubic (Ti,Al)N phase embedded in an amorphous silicon oxynitride phase. The presence of oxygen impurities was identified particularly in non biased samples and estimated to be around 10 at% as the upper limit in these particular samples. Oxygen seems to be outside the nitride nanocrystallites, and mainly bond to silicon, forming amorphous silicon oxynitride phases and confirmed to occupy preferentially nitrogen positions (confirmed by HAADF and EFTEM) at the column boundaries. The application of substrate bias and substrate heating during deposition proved to be very efficient in reducing the oxygen incorporation in the coatings originating also denser coatings with improved mechanical properties. The different energetic conditions (either kinetic or thermal) at which the coatings were exposed during growth and the consequently obtained structures express the need for growth models were the transitions between zones can be achieved by a combination of substrate bias and substrate temperature.

The science fiction cinema is often concerned about future, and presents to its audience possible alternatives for it. Each science fiction film about the future constructs a different idea in the audience&rsquo / s mind and supports a currently existing ideology at the same time. The science fiction genre extrapolates and speculates about future which results in a new world: Aliens, androids or clones become participants of this world, intergalactic federations regulate diplomatic relationships or natural disasters endanger the whole humankind. The indispensable factor in every case is that new objects surround the future. They are extrapolated or speculated as well from the objects of today in order to fit to and satisfy the needs of the future world of the science fiction film. The ideas about the future presented in the film are supported by the material existence of these future objects. This study demonstrates the ideas and ideologies in respect to future in the science fiction cinema and investigates how the future objects contribute to constructing them.

This dissertation focuses on developing algorithms that generate tool paths for free-form surfaces based on accuracy of desired manufactured part. A manufacturing part is represented by mathematical curves and surfaces. Using the mathematical representation of the manufacturing part, we generate reliable and near optimal tool paths as well as cutter location (CL) data file for postprocessing. This algorithm includes two components. First is the forward-step function which determines maximum distance called forward- step between two cutter contact (CC) points with given tolerance. This function is independent of the surface type and is applicable to all continuous parametric surfaces that are twice differentiable. The second component is the side-step function which determines maximum distance called side-step between two adjacent tool paths with a given scallop height. This algorithm reduces manufacturing and computing time as well as the CC points while keeping the given tolerance and scallop height in the tool paths. Several parts, for which the CC points are generated using the proposed algorithm, are machined using a three axes milling machine. As part of the validation process, the tool paths generated during machining are analyzed to compare the machined part and the desired part.