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Through a variety of archaeological, historical and geographical techniques, this thesis presents an analysis of the appearance of the landscape of part of southern Northumberland at various points in the past. It also demonstrates the former landuse practices employed within the study area during those past periods, as well as making observation on the contemporary societies employing them. In addition, the techniques and methodologies employed in the creation of this analysis are explored, along with the results of their application.

The ongoing interest in bacterial interactions with various surfaces, followed by attachment and subsequent biofilm formation, has been driven by the importance of bacterial activities in number of medical, industrial and technological applications. However, bacterial adhesion to surfaces has not been completely understood due to the complexity of parameters involved. The study presented herein investigates the attachment pattern of nine medically and environmentally significant bacteria belonging to different taxonomic lineages: Firmicutes - Bacillus, Gammaproteobacteria, Alphaproteobacteria and Bacteriodetes. Physicochemical assessment techniques such as contact angle and surface charge measurements, atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), confocal microscopy (CLSM), as well as X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF) and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectroscopy (ToF-SIMS) analysis were all employed in order to attain better insight into the factors that influence bacterial interactions with surfaces. Bacterial surface characteristics such as surface wettability and charge in addition to substratum surface wettability, tension, charge and chemistry were also considered. However due to the recent interest in designing micro-textured surfaces with antibacterial and/or antifouling effects the prime was given to the influence of micro- and nano-meter scale surface textures on bacterial adhesion. The interactions between selected bacteria and glass, polymer and optical fibre surfaces were studied. Carefully designed methods for surface modification allowed alteration of the topography of glass, polymer and optical fibre surfaces while maintaining other surface parameters near constant. This allowed isolated assessment of only the effects of surface roughness on bacterial adhesion. Obtained results indicated consistent cellular inclination towards the smoother surfaces for all of the tested species. Enhanced bacterial presence on the smoother surfaces was also accompanied by changes in the bacterial metabolic activity as indicated by the elevated levels of secreted extracellular polymeric materials (EPS) and modifications in the cells morphology. The results indicate that nano-scale surface roughness exert greater influence on bacterial adhesion than previously believed and should therefore be considered as a parameter of primary interest alongside other wellrecognized factors that control initial bacterial attachment.

This work began with a review of visual spatial selective attention, from a behavioural perspective with particular emphasis placed upon the spotlight model. To complement the behavioural review, the physiological aspects of the visual system were studied to find possible loci of the spotlight. The literature pointed to the pulvinar nucleus of the thalamus, interacting with the parietal and frontal cortices. Some experimental work examined relationships between visual spatial selective attention and event-related potentials (ERPs) recorded from the scalp. The second section of this thesis reviewed the ERP measures relating specifically to the visual modality for their possible application in a visual attentional task. This yielded two independent findings. First, the Probe-ERP paradigm comprising an attentional task being performed by the subject, with a separate stimulus to probe the unused resources within the system. Second, the steady-state evoked response, with the stimulus presented as a small sinusoidal variation around a mean level of contrast. The combination of the Probe-ERP paradigm and the steady-state visually evoked potential (SSVEP) warranted experimental evaluation.

Thesis (M.S.)--Oregon State University, 2008. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 59-66). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M.S.)--New England College of Optometry, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 94-96).

Thesis (M.S.)--Naval Postgraduate School, 1975. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 105-106).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 1973. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 522-541).

Thesis (M.S.)--University of California, Santa Cruz, 1988. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 60-65).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oregon State University, 1970. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 154-164).