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Late Jurassic To Early Cretaceous Stable Isotope And Geochemical Records From The Northern High Latitudes: Implications For Palaeoclimate, Elizabeth Victoria Nunn Jan 2007

Late Jurassic To Early Cretaceous Stable Isotope And Geochemical Records From The Northern High Latitudes: Implications For Palaeoclimate, Elizabeth Victoria Nunn

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences Theses

The Jurassic and Cretaceous periods are widely accepted as being dominated by greenhouse conditions with elevated CO2 levels and warm polar regions. Although much compelling evidence to support this idea of global warmth exists, some recent studies propose that the greenhouse climate may at times have been punctuated by sub-freezing polar conditions and the presence of limited polar ice. The evidence, however, is somewhat equivocal and is both spatially and temporally limited with much of this research until now being concentrated in mid- to low latitudes, despite it being generally accepted that global climate is defined to a significant degree …


Late Quaternary Fire Histories In The Eastern Mediterranean Region From Lake Sedimentary Micro-Charcoals, Rebecca Turner Jan 2007

Late Quaternary Fire Histories In The Eastern Mediterranean Region From Lake Sedimentary Micro-Charcoals, Rebecca Turner

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences Theses

The Eastern Mediterranean has a long history of human occupation, which spans the transition from hunter-gatherers to the establishment of early agro-pastoralist communities, coinciding with the Last Glacial: Interglacial transition. Over the same timeframe a delay in postglacial woodland recolonisation in the region has been identified. Fire has long been used by people to manage and manipulate the landscape, and has been hypothesised to have played a role in this delay. This thesis employed lacustrine micro charcoal (particles less than 180 !lm) remains to reconstruct Late Quaternary fire histories for Central Turkey and the Levant, and examine the possible role …


Distribution, Causes And Nature Of Natural Landslides In Devon And Cornwall, Claire Foster Jan 2007

Distribution, Causes And Nature Of Natural Landslides In Devon And Cornwall, Claire Foster

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences Theses

Between 1985 and 1990 a computerised database was assembled that contains information concerning the distribution and nature of 9000 landslides in Great Britain. The South West accounts for 1,700 of the listed slope failures. Problems have arisen because in many areas the database merely serves as an archive of previous studies and is not a true representation of landsliding in an area. The aim of this research was to identify landslide environments correlated with landslide frequency and character and through this develop a landslide susceptibility map. Analyses were undertaken so that distinct inland and coastal landslide environments could be defined. …


Microbially-Mediated Methyl Iodide Cycling In A Particle-Rich Estuary, Noble Kwame Asare Jan 2007

Microbially-Mediated Methyl Iodide Cycling In A Particle-Rich Estuary, Noble Kwame Asare

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences Theses

The dynamics of aquatic systems (e.g. estuarine systems) are known to facilitate the formation of particle aggregates. These nutrient-rich particulate matter provide suitable substrate for bacteria colonization. Although bacteria-aggregate association is known to result in the degradation of particulate organic matter (POM) in aquatic systems, it has never been attributed to the production of methyl iodide (CH3I) (an environmentally important biogas that has the potential to impact on atmospheric chemistry). From literature, there are evidences which suggest that, certain bacteria (methylotrophs) are capable of oxidizing methyl halides including CH3I. Therefore this study investigates microbial production and removal of CH3I in …


Marine Biogeochemistry Studies Of Iron And Hydrogen Peroxide Using Flow Injection-Chemiluminescence, Angela Milne Jan 2007

Marine Biogeochemistry Studies Of Iron And Hydrogen Peroxide Using Flow Injection-Chemiluminescence, Angela Milne

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences Theses

Iron is an essential micronutrient for the growth of planktonic species. It is an integral element of numerous enzymes and proteins with important functions in photosynthesis and respiratory electron transport. In contrast to iron, hydrogen peroxide (H202 is ubiquitous in seawater. Phytoplankton are known to generate reactive oxygen species (ROS) such as superoxide and H202 . This production, in conjunction with membrane bound reductases, may affect an organism's ability to access nutrients such as iron. The work presented in this thesis describes the development and optimisation of sensitive flow injection-chemiluminescence techniques to assess redox processes at the cellular level and …


Controls On Long-Term Drainage Development Of The Carboneras Basin, Se Spain, Astrid Juliette Blum Jan 2007

Controls On Long-Term Drainage Development Of The Carboneras Basin, Se Spain, Astrid Juliette Blum

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences Theses

The impact of external and internal controls on long-term drainage evolution can play an important role in the research on global changes. For longer term controls such as tectonics and climate this necessitates the use of a long time-scale such as the Plio/Pleistocene, and the integration of both geological and geomorphological data. This thesis uses data from Plio/Pleistocene alluvial deposits (deltaic and fluvial) of the Carboneras Basin in southeast Spain to address these issues. The Carboneras Basin, an intermontane basin of the Belie Cordillera, was one of the last of a series of sedimentary basins which underwent transition from marine …


Spatial And Temporal Constraints On The Pattern Of Crustal Rotation In The Central Andean Forearc Of Northern Chile (27-30°S), Ben Dashwood Jan 2007

Spatial And Temporal Constraints On The Pattern Of Crustal Rotation In The Central Andean Forearc Of Northern Chile (27-30°S), Ben Dashwood

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences Theses

A total of 125 sites have been collected for palaeomagnetic analysis from two localities within the Coastal Cordillera and Precordillera regions of Northern Chile, between 27-30 °S, in addition to -200 samples collected from a magnetostratigraphic profile through the Pabellón Formation. In the southernmost (Tres Cruces) sampling locality, spanning the Coastal Cordillera- Precordillera boundary, the early, mid and latest Cretaceous-earliest Paleocene magmatic arcs intrude the earliest Cretaceous country rocks to the west and late Cretaceous rocks to the east. An ~50km transect sampled along Quebrada de Los Choros (~29°45'S), indicates that a consistent clockwise rotation of ~10°is recorded by primary …


Geochronology Of Salt-Marsh Sediments, William Alderman Marshall Jan 2007

Geochronology Of Salt-Marsh Sediments, William Alderman Marshall

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences Theses

Salt-marsh sediments can provide important achives of past sea levels if they can besecurely dated. This thesis investigates eight methods for dating salt-marsh sediments.These include traditional and established dating methods (¹⁴C dating and theradionuclides ¹³⁷Cs and ²¹ºPb) and more novel approaches to dating the deposition ofsalt-marsh sediments (palaeomagnetic dating, the use of' atmospheric stable leaddeposition, tephra chronologies, pollen markers, SCP analysis and the use ofatmospheric ¹⁴C 'bomb spike' and high-precision AMS ¹⁴C measurements). Sites wereselected to provide contrasting sediment sequences that differed both in lithology andaccumulation rates and included salt marshes from the Taf estuary (southwest Wales),the Arne Peninsula (southern …


The Evolution Of Language Universals: Optimal Design And Adaptation, Huck Turner Jan 2007

The Evolution Of Language Universals: Optimal Design And Adaptation, Huck Turner

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

Inquiry into the evolution of syntactic universals is hampered by severe limitations on the available evidence. Theories of selective function nevertheless lead to predictions of local optimaliiy that can be tested scientifically. This thesis refines a diagnostic, originally proposed by Parker and Maynard Smith (1990), for identifying selective functions on this basis and applies it to the evolution of two syntactic universals: (I) the distinction between open and closed lexical classes, and (2) nested constituent structure. In the case of the former, it is argued that the selective role of the closed class items is primarily to minimise the amount …


Magnetic Field Sensor Utilizing Magneto Impedance In Thin Film Multi-Layers, Paul Delooze Jan 2007

Magnetic Field Sensor Utilizing Magneto Impedance In Thin Film Multi-Layers, Paul Delooze

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

Since the discovery of the Magneto Impedance (MI) effect in 1994 there has been a global increase in the research devoted to understanding the effect. In certain magnetic materials, the impedance change, often referred to as the MI ratio, is in the range of 50 to 100% for an excitation current in the MHz frequency range for external magnetic fields of a few Oe. The use of thin film multilayer structures allows the increase of sensitivity and the reduction of size for MI effect to be integrated with micro magnetic sensor technologies. In the present work, we explain the origins …


A Generic Architecture For Insider Misuse Monitoring In It Systems, Aung Htike Phyo Jan 2007

A Generic Architecture For Insider Misuse Monitoring In It Systems, Aung Htike Phyo

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) have been widely deployed within many organisations' IT nenvorks to delect network penetration attacks by outsiders and privilege escalation attacks by insiders. However, traditional IDS are ineffective for detecting o f abuse o f legitimate privileges by authorised users within the organisation i.e. the detection of misfeasance. In essence insider IT abuse does not violate system level controls, yet violates acceptable usage policy, business controls, or code of conduct defined by the organisation. However, the acceptable usage policy can vary from one organisation to another, and the acceptability o f user activities can also change depending …


Managing Community: A Philosophical Analysis Of Praxis, Alan Sanderson Jan 2007

Managing Community: A Philosophical Analysis Of Praxis, Alan Sanderson

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

If communities are to become a viable means of implementing social policy then community practitioners must individually examine their personal praxis. Therefore, in discovering a community's aims and objectives, a management model is needed that offers every practitioner a reflexive means of understanding peoples' beliefs, values, and attitudes. This proposition is critically examined through a philosophical framework that explores individuals' diverse perspectives on community, derived from their adherence to contending ontological and epistemological propositions about the social world, and its related ethical and motivational dimensions. Following a philosophical analysis, the taxonomy of social reality perspectives, developed by Dixon (2003) and …


The Transport And Fate Of Fluoxetine Hydrochloride, Diazepam And Their Human Metabolites In Sewage Sludge-Amended Soil, Clare Helen Redshaw Jan 2007

The Transport And Fate Of Fluoxetine Hydrochloride, Diazepam And Their Human Metabolites In Sewage Sludge-Amended Soil, Clare Helen Redshaw

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

The European Union (EU) banned disposal of sewage sludge (SS) at sea in 1998. Since that time the application rate of SS to land has risen significantly and is set to rise further. Fifty-two percent of SS was disposed to land in the UK in 2000. Land application is thus possibly an important transport route for SS-associated organic chemicals into the environment. There are now over 3000 different pharmaceutical ingredients in use in the EU and the last decade has also seen an increase in reports of pharmacologically active compounds in the environment (e.g. in watercourses, open ocean, soil). Regardless …


Video Quality Measurement For 3g Handset, Zeeshan Jan 2007

Video Quality Measurement For 3g Handset, Zeeshan

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

The quality of video has become a decisive factor for the consumer of 3G video services to choose his mobile operator. It is, therefore, critical for 3G network operator, equipment provider and service provider to measure and hence maintain the video quality of video services they offer. A project has been proposed in University of Plymouth to develop a test platform to evaluate video quality for 3G handset using Asterisk PBX server. For this purpose, support for 3G-324M protocol and all the audio and video codecs (i.e. H.263 baseline level 10 and MPEG-4 simple profile @ level 0) mandated and …


Mis-Guided Exploration Of Cities: An Ambulant Investigation Of Participative Politics Of Place, Simon Bernard Persighetti Jan 2007

Mis-Guided Exploration Of Cities: An Ambulant Investigation Of Participative Politics Of Place, Simon Bernard Persighetti

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

The politics of place and walking as an arts practice form the core concerns of my research. The research is being conducted with particular reference to the ongoing Mis-Guide projects, conceived and produced by the site-specific arts company, Wrights & Sites, of which I am a member. Our apparent rejection of performance-making for an audience has led to walking with spectators as collaborators in the work, and has made the physical journeys and verbal exchanges along the way an integral part of the practice. Through this work, which revolves around place, site-specific arts and urban walking, I am harnessing existing …


The Rape Of Mary Raymond : A Radical View Of Rape In Mary Hays's The Memoirs Of Emma Courtney And The Victim Of Prejudice, Sarah Ann Oliver Jan 2007

The Rape Of Mary Raymond : A Radical View Of Rape In Mary Hays's The Memoirs Of Emma Courtney And The Victim Of Prejudice, Sarah Ann Oliver

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

The thesis is an examination of Mary Hays's first and second novels, The Memoirs of Emma Courtney (1796) and The Victim of Prejudice (1799) in order to claim a reworking of political and gender constructions of women that underwrite rape narratives produced in the Long Eighteenth Century. To discuss ways in which Hays's novels challenge the assumptions and constructions of femininity disseminated in earlier rape texts I have selected examples of polemic and narratives written between the 1670s and the 1790s together with some of the contemporary Radical texts which exhibit similar concerns and views expressed in the writer's feminist …


Shared Habitats: The Moverwitness Paradigm, Eila Goldhahn Jan 2007

Shared Habitats: The Moverwitness Paradigm, Eila Goldhahn

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

This practice-led research thesis analyses and visualises central components of Authentic Movement, with particular reference to the work of Dr Janet Adler. By contextualising and comparing this improvisation method with modern, post-modern and contemporary movement practices the author describes the emergence of Authentic Movement and distinguishes it from other practices. A new and original viewpoint is adopted and the practice's aesthetic, visual and empathetic characteristics are explored in relationship to and through visual art. The author, a learned Authentic Movement practitioner, critiques, deconstructs and reframes the practice from a visual arts- and performance-based, phenomenological perspective renaming it 'the MoverWitness exchange'. …


William Andrews Nesfield [1794-1881] Artist And Landscape Gardener, Shirley Rose Evans Jan 2007

William Andrews Nesfield [1794-1881] Artist And Landscape Gardener, Shirley Rose Evans

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

Contrary to past opinions William Andrews Nesfield's garden layouts were not solely designed to provide appropriate accompaniments to the Elizabethan and Jacobean revival architecture of his brother-in-law Anthony Salvin (1799-1881). Nor were they conceived chiefly to provide his wealthy patrons with a variation on the French seventeenth-century parterre-de-broderie. Undoubtedly, this device helped to forge a sympathetic bond between Nesfield and his patrons, for it had been a symbol of power and status in seventeenth-century France when it was associated with the upper echelons of French society. It therefore represented to the aristocracy and upper gentry of nineteenth-century Britain, during the …


Vesica: Using Neolithic British Ritual Art And Architecture As A Model For Making Contemporary Art, Michael Pearce Jan 2007

Vesica: Using Neolithic British Ritual Art And Architecture As A Model For Making Contemporary Art, Michael Pearce

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

Can the creative practices of British Neolithic art and architecture be used in the making of contemporary art? This dissertation describes my practice making works of art based on the Neolithic model, presented in a gallery setting and occasionally in the landscape. The creative process is grounded on research into prehistoric British art and ritual architecture and records my process of understanding the work of ancient Britons as a framework for the concurrent process of making new objects for display. Without extensive research and direct experience of the Neolithic art and architecture I would not have been able to create …


Gestures Towards Emptiness: An Exploration Of Ritual With Reference To Buddhist Tradition And Innovation, Luise Holtbernd Jan 2007

Gestures Towards Emptiness: An Exploration Of Ritual With Reference To Buddhist Tradition And Innovation, Luise Holtbernd

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

This thesis is a cross-relational enquiry into the nature of ritual as the subject of arts-based research. It can be described as ritual-led; or as an artist's manifestation of ritual. The core of the submission consists in an exhibition, comprising 30 pieces of framed, wall-hung artwork; 3 artist's books; some small-scale sculptural work and a documentary film. The research is concerned with parallel, related disciplines and modes of working: visual art, music, general ritual studies, pedagogy and the practice of Buddhist meditation and ritual. The following areas are being addressed: 1. The context of ritual in general, and Buddhist ritual …


William Andrews Nesfield (1794-1881) Artist And Landscape Gardener, Shirley Rose Evans Jan 2007

William Andrews Nesfield (1794-1881) Artist And Landscape Gardener, Shirley Rose Evans

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

Contrary to past opinions William Andrews Nesfield's garden layouts were not solely designedt o provide appropriatea ccompanimentsto the Elizabethana nd Jacobean revival architecture of his brother-in-law Anthony Salvin (1799-1881). Nor were they conceived chiefly to provide his wealthy patrons with a variation on the French seventeenth-centuryparterre-de-broderieU. ndoubtedly,t his device helpedt o forge a sympathetic bond between Nesfield and his patrons, for it had been a symbol of power and statusi n seventeenth-centurFy rancew hen it was associatedw ith the upper echelonso f Frenchs ociety. It thereforer epresentedto the aristocracya nd upper gentry of nineteenthcenturyB ritain, during the time Nesfield was …


The Lived Experiences Of Four Overweight Hispanic Adolescent Females, Wanda Lee Rhodes Jan 2007

The Lived Experiences Of Four Overweight Hispanic Adolescent Females, Wanda Lee Rhodes

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

The purpose of this study was to understand the lived experiences of four overweight/obese Hispanic adolescents as individuals by utilizing Social Cognitive Theory’s (SCT) (Bandura, 1977, 1986, & 1989) reciprocal interaction of the environment, personal factors and behaviors of the participants in order to investigate the health risk behaviors of the participants as they related to overweight and obesity. Additionally, the commonalities and differences across participants were examined. Four female Hispanic adolescents whose BMI measured at the 99th percentiles for age and gender were randomly chosen from students enrolled in a junior high school physical education intervention class. Experiences of …


The Challenge Of Interagency Information Sharing: A Systemic Analysis Of Two Sure Start Children's Centres, Susan Moira Richardson Jan 2007

The Challenge Of Interagency Information Sharing: A Systemic Analysis Of Two Sure Start Children's Centres, Susan Moira Richardson

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

This study investigates a problem facing professionals working in public service agencies, in the current policy context of partnership working. This is the question of how to share personal service user information across agency boundaries, so that there is minimal risk of important information being ‘lost down the cracks' between agencies, while at the same time avoiding the risk of breaching confidentiality. This study aims to understand better the day to day difficulties faced by those grappling with this problem. This research contributes to the theoretical understanding of this challenge by proposing a new model of information sharing behaviour and …


Tarmac Cowboys : An Ethnographic Study Of The Cultural World Of Boy Racers, Zannagh Hatton Jan 2007

Tarmac Cowboys : An Ethnographic Study Of The Cultural World Of Boy Racers, Zannagh Hatton

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

Through my varying degrees of engagement with the street car culture which existed around the area where I lived in Cornwall, I had become aware of the extent to which cars played an important role and represented the norm of daily discourse, entered into by others, and particularly young men. Yet as one of the dominant forms of mobility, the car appears to have been a neglected topic within sociology, cultural studies and related disciplines. Furthermore, I was unable to find a great deal of academic literature on the combined subjects of young men and motorcars, and in particular how …


A Practice Of Painting : Living With The Reception And Generation Of Image On The Visual Threshold, Gladin Fryer Jan 2007

A Practice Of Painting : Living With The Reception And Generation Of Image On The Visual Threshold, Gladin Fryer

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

My work as an artist takes an image on a journey beginning with a photographic source image and ending in a painted image, passing through the remembered, imagined and perceived. It is important for me that the images in my work are encountered physically through the materials constituting the surface of the painting and mentally through the 'language' of images. Each viewer uniquely completes the image's journey of becoming a painting. My paintings explore and realise the materiality of an image through the layering of paint, varnish, pebbles, gravel and found objects. Through the activity of painting these 'textured' images …


Art Ecology And Planning: Strategic Concepts And Creativity Within The Post Industrial Public Realm, Timothy Martin Collins Jan 2007

Art Ecology And Planning: Strategic Concepts And Creativity Within The Post Industrial Public Realm, Timothy Martin Collins

School of Art, Design and Architecture Theses

The intent of this thesis and its attendant body of practical work was to examine and test ideas and practices that can inform and expand the artists' role in the post-industrial public realm and its environmental context. The general focus was on transformative approaches to contemporary public art. The specific interest (and area of practice) is defined by artwork that takes an interdisciplinary approach to new forms of social creativity in the context of post-industrial environmental change. This dissertation begins with a broad literature review to understand public art and its relationship to: the public realm, ecology, nature and the …


Environmental And Biological Consequences Of Microplastic Within Marine Habitats, Mark Anthony Browne Jan 2007

Environmental And Biological Consequences Of Microplastic Within Marine Habitats, Mark Anthony Browne

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

Large pieces of plastic greater than a millimetre in diameter contaminate marine habitats worldwide and the associated environmental problems are well documented. In addition tiny fragments of plastic debris less than a millimetre in size have recently been reported. This thesis examines the distribution and environmental consequences of microscopic particles of plastic within marine habitats. To quantify the relative influence of wind and depositional environment on the accumulation of plastic debris, a mensurative experiment was conducted in a macrotidal Estuary. The overall trend was that material accumulated in down-wind sites. However, the relative importance of wind as a transport agent …


Evaluating The Impact Of Organic Contamination Upon The Physiology Of The Shore Crab Carcinus Maenas (L.), Awantha Dissanayake Jan 2007

Evaluating The Impact Of Organic Contamination Upon The Physiology Of The Shore Crab Carcinus Maenas (L.), Awantha Dissanayake

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

This thesis has focused on answering fundamental questions regarding the 'normal' physiological ranges of the male shore crab Carcinus maenas. knowledge of the responses to environmental variables is needed before the effects of anthropogenic stress can be identified. Anthropogenic stress was imposed in the form of contamination by a ubiquitous priority pollutant of the aquatic environment (polyaromatic hydrocarbon, pyrene). The first hypothesis focused on identifying the physiological differences between juvenile and adult male shore crabs. Differences at the cellular level (cell and immune function) determined the relative contaminant sensitivity between the two ontogenetic stages, with juveniles expressing increased physiological sensitivity …


Towards A Phenomenological Theory Of The Visceral In The Interactive Arts, Diane J. Gromala Jan 2007

Towards A Phenomenological Theory Of The Visceral In The Interactive Arts, Diane J. Gromala

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

This thesis explores the ways in which certain forms of interactive art may and do elicit visceral responses. The term "visceral" refers to the cardiovascular, respiratory, uro-genital and especially excretory systems that affect mind and body on a continuum of awareness. The "visceral" is mentioned in the field of interactive arts, but it remains systematically unexplored and undefined. Further, interactive artworks predominantly focus on the exteroceptive (stimuli from outside) rather than the interoceptive (stimuli arising within the body, especially the viscera) senses. The existentialist phenomenology of Maurice Merleau-Ponty forms the basis for explorations of the visceral dimension of mind/body. New …


Migration & Economy In Cornwall, Stuart James Burley Jan 2007

Migration & Economy In Cornwall, Stuart James Burley

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

Cornwall is arguably the poorest county in England, but since the 1960s it has been the recipient of some of the highest levels of in-migration. The result of this has seen Cornwall experience some of fastest rates of population growth. This has taken place in the context of counterurbanisation, a process that has been argued to be economically beneficial. Cornwall therefore seems to provide two paradoxical conditions; first, comparative economic poverty has not deterred large numbers of people wishing to live in the county and second, sustained population growth seems to have failed to lift Cornwall from economic poverty. This …