Cultural identity today has become deterritorialized. As mass migration, mobility and interconnectivity between peoples and regions have increased, connections to geographical roots have loosened. People today are enmeshed in multiple spatial contexts, their past and present associations all contribute to shaping an identity that reaches beyond territorial boundaries. Being simultaneously a part of and apart from a multitude of places allows for identity to be situational and hybrid, between categorization. To examine the fluidity of identity and its relationship to the built environment, this investigation focuses specifically around the Indian diaspora, tracing the relationship between people and place within their homeland, through transition, and after settling in a new hostland. While definitions of nationalism typically involve identifying ethnic commonalities within a state, the Indian nation unites in a celebration of disparity. As India developed as a home to numerous languages, social hierarchies and belief systems, it has struggled to form a coherent national narrative. The overseas Indian community amplifies this dilemma as they are confronted with further multiplicity in a foreign environment. The result is a gap that prevents the Indian diaspora from fully connecting to both homeland and hostland, situating them in a space of the in-between. Rather than attempting to bridge this gap, this investigation chronicles the reasons for its existence and offers an observatory as a space in the built environment where the gulf between cultural identities can be explored.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2005. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 209-222).

No description available.

Thesis: S.B., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, 2000. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (page 61). / The goal of this thesis is to propose a layout for the Wallace Astrophysical Observatory (WAO) 24-inch optical system that would utilize the full potential of the telescope and a new CCD imaging instrument. An optical analysis of the 6.5-meter Magellan I telescope was first performed to determine the optimal mounting location for the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Magellan Instant Camera (MAGIC). The analysis method used for the Magellan I model was then applied to the WAO 24-inch telescope. The results of the optical analysis of the WAO 24-inch model suggest that the optimal layout would follow a Cassegrain model with a focal ratio of between 15.3 and 16.6 to obtain image sizes of approximately 1.0 arcsecond or less over a field of up to 26.4 arcminutes in diameter. / by Janet P. Wu. / S.B.

Thesis (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Nuclear Science and Engineering, June 2009. / "May 2008." Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 53-54). / The goal of this thesis is to upgrade the scientific capabilities of the 24" Cassegrain reflector telescope at the George R. Wallace, Jr. Astrophysical Observatory (Wallace Observatory), part of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The upgrade consists of evaluating, designing and constructing the Wallace Astrophysical Observatory Camera (WAOcam), optimized for 24" telescope. A full 3D model of the 24" telescope and dome was created to find the size restrictions for WAOcam. An optical model was also developed to maximize the field of view of the camera detector. WAOcam was designed using SolidWorks (3D modeling Software), the parts files from the designing process were also used to machine the instrument. The manufacturing of the WAOcam involved using the following: Computer Numerical Control (CNC) lathe, CNC mill, drill press, and a Waterjet (cutting machine). The manufacturing process also required learning of Omax (software for the Waterjet) and MasterCam 9.1 (software for the CNC lathe and CNC mill). The resulting product is WAOcam, which consists of three modules: 1) vacuum dewar (houses a CCD detector), 2) shutter (controls when light hits the camera detector), and 3) filter wheel (modifies the light before hitting the detector). The remaining work left on the WAOcam is the installation of two additional modules: 1) a four port instrument rotator and 2) a field rotator. This upgrade will allow for occultation observations, strip scanning surveys, and Kuiper Belt Object (KBOs) astrometry to be obtained using the 24" telescope. / by Folkers Eduardo Rojas. / S.B.

The beginning of X-ray astronomy is based on two accidental discoveries made in 1962. A single point source, Scorpio X-1 and remarkable discovery of the diffuse background radiation, three years before the microwave background was discovered. Over the past four decades, X-ray astronomy has matured into a major branch of astronomy, contributing to our understanding of the physical processes operating in many different types of sources, from stars to high redshift quasars. In 1990, the launch of the ROSAT satellite offered to unique opportunity to investigate the radio properties of X-ray emitters. A sample of faint X-ray emitters from a deep pointed observation is used in this thesis to investigate the prediction that sub-mJy radio source are a major contributor to the X-ray background. Another sample of 695 bright X-ray emitters were selected from ROSAT All Sky Survey for optical follow-up as a European Southern Observatory key project. The radio follow-up of the sample was undertaken for this thesis. The aim is to construct a catalogue of radio emitting X-ray (REX) sources to study their quantitative statistical properties and to select out a sample of BL-Lac objects for further study. Based on previous surveys approximately 19% or 130 of the X-ray sources should be directly associated with a radio emitter, of which 90% will be positionally coincident with the most plausible optical candidate for an X-ray source. This increases the efficiency of the optical identification program by about 15 percent. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Neutrino oscillation experiments have shown de nite evidence for non-zero neutrino masses. However, these experiments only tell us about neutrino mass di erences, and nothing about the absolute masses themselves. The observation of neutrinoless double-beta (0 ) decay, a hypothetical nuclear transition, would provide the rst absolute mass scale measurement of the neutrino outside of cosmology. This decay would imply the neutrino to be a Majorana particle, the rst fermion of its kind. 0 decay would also be the rst observation of lepton number violation. The Enriched Xenon Observatory (EXO) is currently searching for 0 decay in 136Xe with a half-life greater than 1025 years. EXO-200 is the rst experiment of the EXO physics program, which has observed twoneutrino double beta decay (2 ) in 136Xe for the rst time, with a half-life of 2:165 0:075 1021 years [1]. This is the longest measured half-life to date. EXO is now designing a 5-tonne scale detector, nEXO, to be sensitive to the inverted-scale hierarchy. Despite the careful selection of radiopure substances for the detector, the existence of trace levels of 222Rn is inevitable. One of the daughters of 222Rn, 214Bi, can emit photons at the Q-value for 0 decay, making it a critical background. This dissertation investigates the method of Rn removal from gaseous Xe through the use of a Cu wool trap.

Distributions of amount of rain with rainfall rate and of duration with rate are determined for all rain of 1963 and for the heavy rain of 1958 to 1962. The rainfall rates are obtained from the rain chart records of the McGill Cbservatory tipping-bucket recording rain gauge. Separate distributions for winter and summer rain are evaluated. The distributions of amount with rate for both winter and summer rain are log-normal; they have logarithmic means of 2.5 mm hr⁻¹ and 12.6 mm hr⁻¹ respectively and logarithmic standard deviations of 0.4 and 0.7 respectively. A comparison of the distributions of amount with rate for winter rain and for snow shows that the two distributions are similar in form. [...]

Thesis (M. Sc.)--Carleton University, 1995. / Also available in electronic format on the Internet.