This thesis is the first academic study of nineteenth-century artist and drawing master Samuel Lines (1778-1863) and his five sons: Henry Harris Lines (1800-1889), William Rostill Lines (1802-1846), Samuel Rostill Lines (1804-1833), Edward Ashcroft Lines (1807-1875) and Frederick Thomas Lines (1809-1898). The thesis, with its catalogue, has been a result of a collaborative study focusing on a collection of works on paper by the sons of Samuel Lines, from the Permanent Collection of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists (RBSA). Both the thesis and catalogue aim to re-instate the family’s position as one of Birmingham’s most prominent and distinguished artistic dynasties. The thesis is divided into three chapters and includes a complete and comprehensive catalogue of 56 works on paper by the Lines family in the RBSA Permanent Collection. The catalogue also includes discursive information on the family’s careers otherwise not mentioned in the main thesis itself. The first chapter explores the family’s role in the establishment of the Birmingham Society of Arts (later the RBSA). It also explores the influence of art institutions and industry on the production of the fine and manufactured arts in Birmingham during the nineteenth century. The second chapter discusses the Lines family’s landscape imagery, in relation to prevailing landscape aesthetics and the physically changing landscape of the Midlands. Henry Harris Lines is the main focus of the last chapter which reveals the extent of his skills as archaeologist, antiquarian and artist.

This collaborative thesis focuses on the extensive collection of works on paper and related objects by Ford Madox Brown (1821-1893) held at Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery (BMAG). It is the first academic study to use Brown's works on paper as the basis for discussion. In doing so it seeks to throw light on neglected areas of his work and to highlight the potential of prints and drawings as subjects for scholarly research. The thesis comprises a complete catalogue of the works on paper by Brown held at BMAG and three discursive chapters exploring the strengths of the collection. Chapter one focuses on the significant number of literary and religious works Brown made in Paris between 1841 and 1844 and examines his position in the cross-cultural dialogues taking place in Europe in the mid-nineteenth century. Chapter two uses the dual definition of the word 'construction' to examine how his interpretation of history was affected by contemporary changes in historiography, and to discuss his practical approach to composing a history painting. Chapter 3 studies illustrations he made for publication. Progressing chronologically, it explores his changing attitude towards illustration as a medium and argues that these works had increasing importance for his artistic career. The catalogue is the most up-to-date and informative inventory of the collection and includes new identifications, titles and dates and exegeses.

This thesis examines sketched portraits of Amerindian peoples created by the English artist Edward Goodall during the 1841-1844 Boundary Survey of British Guiana, now Guyana, which was carried out by the German scientific explorer, Robert Schomburgk. The portraits formed part of a larger body of over 250 drawn and watercolour works labelled as Sketches in British Guiana, and carried out by Goodall in his role as official expedition illustrator. These sketches captured a wide range of geographical subjects, from botany, topography and zoology, to hydrography, geology and historical scenes of the expedition itself, in addition to the ethnographic representations upon which this thesis focuses, and which dominate the body in terms of their numbers and interest. The sketches were carried out in relation to the cartographic and geographical mapping and documenting of the Guayana territory and its peoples by Schomburgk as he moved across the disputed border regions between British Guiana and its neighbouring colonial states, Brazil, Venezuela and Surinam. Focusing on the works as a manifestation of the different subjective forces and ideologies at play within this colonial enterprise, I argue the portraits and Sketches more generally, exemplify art’s cooption as a tool of colonial reconnaissance, expansion and domination during the mid-nineteenth century, playing a key role in visualising the geographical colonization that Schomburgk’s Boundary Survey represented, capturing disputed inhabitants and their locales as they were inscribed onto British colonial maps, and substantiating British imperial claims over them. In essence, through Goodall’s work, Schomburgk sought to cultivate and performatively demonstrate knowledge of and control over Amerindians through their representation, which paralleled the way the Guayana landscape was brought into British guardianship, all under the aegis of Christian humanitarianism, scientific advance and national-imperial prestige.

The objective of this thesis is to challenge the patriarchal traditions of Surrealism by examining the topic from the perspective of its women practitioners. Unlike past research, which often focuses on the biographical details of women artists, this thesis provides a case study of a select group of women Surrealists – chosen for the variety of their artistic practice and creativity – based on the close textual analysis of selected works. Specifically, this study will deal with names that are familiar (Lee Miller, Meret Oppenheim, Frida Kahlo), marginal (Elsa Schiaparelli) or simply ignored or dismissed within existing critical analyses (Alice Rahon). The focus of individual chapters will range from photography and sculpture to fashion, alchemy and folklore. By exploring subjects neglected in much orthodox male Surrealist practice, it will become evident that the women artists discussed here created their own form of Surrealism, one that was respectful and loyal to the movement’s founding principles even while it playfully and provocatively transformed them.

This thesis explores the life and work of the Kuwaiti artist Khalifa Qattan (1934-2003). The first chapter views Qattan in the context of twentieth-century visual culture in Kuwait. It also shows the European influence on his work, as he lived and studied in Britain in the 1950s. A second chapter is dedicated to Qattan's aesthetic theory called Circulism; it shows that it is a philosophy and a style, and situates Circulism between western and Arabic sources. The third chapter deals with the Gulf War of 1991 as a particular topic in Qattan's work, and compares his work about the war with the work of John Keane, the British artist who was commissioned by the Imperial War Museum as an official recorder to cover that war. Considering western and Arabic writings on the war, this chapter argues that different visual interpretations of the war are rooted in an 'insider' and 'outsider' experience. A conclusion discusses the general problems involved when viewing non-western visual cultures with western eyes. An appendix, a bibliography and a list of illustrations followed by 61 illustrations conclude the thesis.

A pair of high-stability optical frequency references has been developed. The devices are based on room temperature Fabry-Perot cavities with mirrors spaced apart by a hollow single-crystal sapphire element. The sapphire element delivers mechanical sti ness that provides improved immunity to vibrational perturbations compared with the more common spacers made from ultra-low expansion glass. The system is housed in an vacuum chamber designed to provide isolation from environmental perturbations through the use of an active thermal control system, suspension legs and a unique beam alignment system. The dimensional stability of the Fabry-Perot was translated into a highly stable laser frequency by frequency locking a 1064nm Nd:YAG laser to the centre of a mode of the cavity. This frequency lock was implemented by the Pound-Drever-Hall scheme. By careful design, this control system was able to hold the frequency of the laser to within parts in 1016 of the frequency of the fundamental cavity mode. The minimum fractional frequency stability of the laser frequency was measured at 2.1x10[-]14 for integration times of 0.8 s, limited by the residual instability of the Fabry-Perot cavity. The experimental methods used to measure the performance of the system have also been considered in depth. For example, the most common way of characterizing the frequency stability of a frequency standard is the Allan variance. It is demonstrated that, without care, data taken with modern frequency counters can produce erroneous and distorted results when their output is supplied to this algorithm. The method to avoid or account for these errors is also presented. The Fabry-Perot cavity performance is limited on long timescales by residual temperature uctuations, which can be ameliorated in future by enhancing the design of the thermal control system. At short timescales, the system is limited by vibration-induced uctuations together with a white noise source, that is yet to be identi ed, but may relate to fundamental thermodynamic temperature uctuations of the sapphire spacer. This system was used to measure the stability of an optical signal synthesised from a cryogenic microwave sapphire oscillator using an wide-band optical frequency comb. This was the rst demonstration of a multiplication of an ultra-stable signal from the microwave frequency domain into the optical frequency domain, without loss of delity at the level of 2x10[-]14.

L'île de la Martinique a connu l'histoire volcanique la plus complète de l'arc des Petites Antilles, de 25 Ma à l'actuel. L'hétérogénéité chimique et isotopique des laves de l'île est très importante non seulement par rapport aux autres îles de l'arc mais aussi par rapport aux autres arcs intra-océaniques. L'objectif de ces travaux est d'expliquer la variabilité géochimique des laves de la Martinique et de caractériser les processus de genèse des produits volcaniques émis sur l'île. Pour cela, nous avons effectué une étude géochimique approfondie (éléments majeurs, éléments traces, rapports isotopiques du Pb, Sr, Nd et Hf) sur des échantillons de laves représentatifs de toute l'histoire volcanique de la Martinique. Grâce à une collaboration avec Aurélie Germa et Xavier Quidelleur de l'université Orsay - Paris XI, l'étude géochimique a été couplée à une datation des laves par méthode K-Ar. Les laves martiniquaises forment des droites et hyperboles de mélanges entre pôles appauvris mantelliques et pôle enrichis crustaux. Il apparaît que deux mélanges distincts sont visibles, un premier mélange est formé par les laves « anciennes » (entre 25 et 7 Ma) et un deuxième mélange est formé par les laves « récentes » (entre 5 Ma et l'actuel). Les pôles mantelliques et les pôles crustaux impliqués dans les sources des magmas ne sont pas les mêmes avant et après 6 Ma. Ce changement de source est probablement lié au passage de la ride asismique qui a décalé la moitié nord de l'arc des Petites Antilles. L'origine de la signature crustale des laves martiniquaises est testée en comparant un modèle de mélange à la source entre des sédiments de la plaque plongeante et le coin mantellique et un modèle d'assimilation de la croûte de l'arc par les magmas mantelliques ascendants. Le modèle d'assimilation intra-crustale ne peut pas reproduire les tendances décrites par les laves alors que le modèle de mélange à la source le fait parfaitement. La comparaison entre les pôles crustaux impliqués dans les mélanges et les sédiments entrants dans la subduction indique qu'il n'y a pas de fractionnement entre le Pb, le Sr, le Nd et l'Hf ce qui implique que les sédiments sont probablement ajoutés à la source par fusion partielle et non par déshydratation. Le rapport La/Yb des laves martiniquaises apparait comme un proxy de la proportion de sédiments dans la source des magmas et non du taux de fusion partielle ou de la nature de la phase alumineuse du manteau bien que la fusion, de l'ordre de 10%, ait lieu dans la zone de stabilité du grenat. Le gradient géographique du rapport La/Yb au sein de l'île traduit donc un gradient géographique de la proportion de sédiments, et montre que la proportion de sédiments dans la source augmente avec l'éloignement à la fosse.

<p>An experimental study of the two-neutrino double-beta (2&nu;&beta;&beta;) decay of <super>150</super>Nd to various excited final states of <super>150</super>Sm was performed at Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory (TUNL). Such data provide important checks for theoretical models used to predict 0&nu;&beta;&beta; decay half lives.</p> <p>The measurement was performed at the recently established Kimballton Underground Research Facility (KURF) in Ripplemeade, Virginia using the TUNL-ITEP double-beta decay setup. In this setup, two high-purity germanium detectors were operated in coincidence to detect the deexcitation gamma rays of the daughter nucleus. This coincidence technique, along with the location underground, provides a considerable reduction in background in the regions of interest.</p> <p>This study yields the first results from KURF and the first detection of the</p> <p>coincidence gamma rays from the 0<super>+</super>₁ excited state of <super>150</super>Sm. These gamma rays</p> <p>have energies of 334.0 keV and 406.5 keV, and are emitted in coincidence through a 0<super>+</super>₁&rarr;2<super>+</super>₁&rarr;0<super>+</super>_gs transition. The enriched Nd₂O₃ sample obtained from Oak Ridge</p> <p>National Laboratory consists of 40.13 g <super>150</sub>Nd. This sample was observed for 391 days, producing 29 raw events in the region of interest. This count rate gives a half life of T_1/2 = (0.72<super>+0.36</super>_&#8722;0.18 &plusmn; 0.04(syst.)) &times; 10<super>20</super> years, which agrees within error with</p> <p>another recent measurement, in which only the single deexcitation gamma rays were detected (i.e., no coincidence was employed). Lower limits were also obtained for decays to higher excited final states.</p> / Dissertation

The topic of this thesis is solar pump Neodymium doped Yttrium Aluminum Garnet laser, the research of characteristics is that natural sunlight is used as pumped source in instead of diode laser, pulsed Xenon lamp, Krypton arc lamp¡Ketc. In order to reduce use of electric power. By using solar concentrator system, concentration is reached to 8.89 ¡Ñ (10^10). This ratio is set to end pump Neodymium doped YAG. The output power is up to 17.54mW, and the laser slope efficiency is up to 0.04% . On application, If lasers are needed in remote locations where sunlight is abundant and other forms of energy are scarce, a solar laser would seem to be a natural choice.

The Ertsberg-Grasberg Mining District of Papua, Indonesia (Western New Guinea) hosts the Ertsberg Cu-Au Skarn, the giant Grasberg Porphyry Cu-Au deposit, and several other orebodies. Two 1700-meter-long cores beneath the Kucing Liar ore skarn (KL98-10-22) and the Grasberg Igneous Complex (KL98-10-21) contain high concentrations of vein and disseminated molybdenite. KL98-10-22, the focus of this study, intersects two previously unencountered intrusions, the “Tertiary intrusion Kucing Liar” (Tikl) and “Tertiary Pliocene intrusion” (Tpi). An intense dilatational quartz vein stockwork cuts Tikl and Ekmai Sandstone (Kkes) units, predating Tpi intrusion. Prior to these ultradeep cores, which extend almost 3 km below pre-mining surface, molybdenite was rarely observed in the district. Geochemistry and isotopic data indicate that Tikl and Tpi intrusions originated from the same large magmatic system that emplaced other ore-forming Ertsberg-Grasberg district intrusions. Magma in a lower crustal chamber was recharged at least twice, according to Sr-Nd data. Laser-ablation inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry of magmatic zircons yields 238U-206Pb ages between 3.40 ± 0.12 Ma (Dalam Andesite) and 2.77 ± 0.15 Ma (Ertsberg intrusion), revealing a shorter period of igneous activity than previously measured by K-Ar and Ar-Ar dating. Analyses include composite ages of 3.28 ± 0.08 Ma for Tikl and 3.18 ± 0.11 Ma for Tpi. Inherited zircon cores indicate Precambrian (mostly Proterozoic) basement. Molybdenite veining beneath the Kucing Liar Skarn and Grasberg Igneous Complex postdates stockwork veining and occurred before the 2.99 ± 0.11 Ma Kali dikes. Only one molybdenite vein was observed cutting Tpi. Molybdenites yielded ~3 Ma Re-Os ages and anomalous >4 Ma and <0.5 Ma ages; anomalous ages were not reproducible in follow-up analyses (this study). Smearing deformation of molybdenite (through fault activity) causes crystal strain, likely leading to annealing recrystallization. Recrystallization possibly redistributes daughter-product Os, resulting in anomalous ages from annealed material. Fluids with high Mo/Cu ratios (which were likely supercritical) precipitated late-stage molybdenite deep in the system. These fluids developed through magma chamber crystallization, which concentrated molybdenum in the melt as an incompatible element, and stripping of Cu from the magma chamber during hydrothermal activity. / text