Characterisations of elementary pseudo-caps and good eggs

In this note, we use the theory of Desarguesian spreads to investigate good eggs. Thas showed that an egg in $\mathrm{PG}(4n-1, q)$, $q$ odd, with two good elements is elementary. By a short combinatorial argument, we show that a similar statement holds for large pseudo-caps, in odd and even characteristic. As a corollary, this improves and extends the result of Thas, Thas and Van Maldeghem (2006) where one needs at least 4 good elements of an egg in even characteristic to obtain the same conclusion. We rephrase this corollary to obtain a characterisation of the generalised quadrangle $T_3(\mathcal{O})$ of Tits. Lavrauw (2005) characterises elementary eggs in odd characteristic as those good eggs containing a space that contains at least 5 elements of the egg, but not the good element. We provide an adaptation of this characterisation for weak eggs in odd and even characteristic. As a corollary, we obtain a direct geometric proof for the theorem of Lavrauw

A geometric characterisation of Desarguesian spreads

We provide a characterisation of $(n-1)$-spreads in $\mathrm{PG}(rn-1,q)$ that have $r$ normal elements in general position. In the same way, we obtain a geometric characterisation of Desarguesian $(n-1)$-spreads in $\mathrm{PG}(rn-1,q)$, $r>2$

Journey of a book: Bartholomew the Englishman and the Properties of Things

De proprietatibus rerum, ‘On the properties of things’, has long been referred to by scholars as a medieval encyclopedia, but evidence suggests that it has been many things to many people. The sheer number of extant manuscript copies and printed editions, along with translations, adaptations, and mentions in poems and sermons, testify to its continuous significance for Europeans of all estates and different walks of life, from the thirteenth to the seventeenth centuries. While first compiled soon after the time of St Francis by a humble continental friar to meet the needs of his expanding religious brotherhood, by 1600 English men of letters had claimed Bartholomew as a noble compatriot and national treasure. What was it about the work that propelled it through a progression of medieval cultures and into an exalted position in the world of English letters? This reception history traces evidence for the journey of ‘Properties’ over four centuries of social, political and religious change

Journey of a book: Bartholomew the Englishman and the Properties of Things

De proprietatibus rerum, ‘On the properties of things’, has long been referred to by scholars as a medieval encyclopedia, but evidence suggests that it has been many things to many people. The sheer number of extant manuscript copies and printed editions, along with translations, adaptations, and mentions in poems and sermons, testify to its continuous significance for Europeans of all estates and different walks of life, from the thirteenth to the seventeenth centuries. While first compiled soon after the time of St Francis by a humble continental friar to meet the needs of his expanding religious brotherhood, by 1600 English men of letters had claimed Bartholomew as a noble compatriot and national treasure. What was it about the work that propelled it through a progression of medieval cultures and into an exalted position in the world of English letters? This reception history traces evidence for the journey of ‘Properties’ over four centuries of social, political and religious change

The Irkutsk cultural project: images of peasants, workers & natives in late imperial Irkutsk province, c.1870-1905

This thesis explores depictions of established Russian-Siberian peasants, settlers from European Russia, non-agricultural workers, indigenous Buriats and Jews in Irkutsk province during the late imperial period. In particular, it focuses on characterisations of these groups that were created by the Irkutsk 'cultural class' (kul'turnogo klassa) in the late imperial period. The sources it uses are print media such as journals and newspapers produced in or associated with Irkutsk to create a 'microhistorical' study. It is structured around categories of analysis that were used at the time in scientific and literary treatments of lower class peoples, such as social mores, cultural activity, economic function, physiognomy and sexuality. It also studies how these images informed the development of a transformationist culture of government in rural, urban and colonial environments. Using theories of imperial networks and cultural projects borrowed from human and cultural geography and adapting them to an anthropocentric study of Russian colonialism, these debates are situated within the wider context of pan-European, inter-imperial frames of reference. The portrayals of population groups in both domestic and colonial settings that lay within these frameworks rested on common core signs and assumptions found across other pre-war European empires, which made both the frameworks and the images highly portable. This anthropocentric comparative is used to "bring the empire back in", both in recognising the imperial frames of reference within which its culture played out, and also as a means of furthering historiographical analyses that argue against Russian exceptionalism

The Irkutsk cultural project: images of peasants, workers & natives in late imperial Irkutsk province, c.1870-1905

This thesis explores depictions of established Russian-Siberian peasants, settlers from European Russia, non-agricultural workers, indigenous Buriats and Jews in Irkutsk province during the late imperial period. In particular, it focuses on characterisations of these groups that were created by the Irkutsk 'cultural class' (kul'turnogo klassa) in the late imperial period. The sources it uses are print media such as journals and newspapers produced in or associated with Irkutsk to create a 'microhistorical' study. It is structured around categories of analysis that were used at the time in scientific and literary treatments of lower class peoples, such as social mores, cultural activity, economic function, physiognomy and sexuality. It also studies how these images informed the development of a transformationist culture of government in rural, urban and colonial environments. Using theories of imperial networks and cultural projects borrowed from human and cultural geography and adapting them to an anthropocentric study of Russian colonialism, these debates are situated within the wider context of pan-European, inter-imperial frames of reference. The portrayals of population groups in both domestic and colonial settings that lay within these frameworks rested on common core signs and assumptions found across other pre-war European empires, which made both the frameworks and the images highly portable. This anthropocentric comparative is used to "bring the empire back in", both in recognising the imperial frames of reference within which its culture played out, and also as a means of furthering historiographical analyses that argue against Russian exceptionalism

Treatment of persistent organic pollutants in wastewater with combined advanced oxidation

Philosophiae Doctor - PhDPersistent organic pollutants (POPs) are very tenacious wastewater contaminants with negative impact on the ecosystem. The two major sources of POPs are wastewater from textile industries and pharmaceutical industries. They are known for their recalcitrance and circumvention of nearly all the known wastewater treatment procedures. However, the wastewater treatment methods which applied advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) are documented for their successful remediation of POPs. AOPs are a group of water treatment technologies which is centered on the generation of OH radicals for the purpose of oxidizing recalcitrant organic contaminants content of wastewater to their inert end products. Circumvention of the reported demerits of AOPs such as low degradation efficiency, generation of toxic intermediates, massive sludge production, high energy expenditure and operational cost can be done through the application of the combined AOPs in the wastewater treatment procedure. The resultant mineralisation of the POPs content of wastewater is due to the synergistic effect of the OH radicals produced in the combined AOPs. Hydrodynamic cavitation is the application of the pressure variation in a liquid flowing through the venturi or orifice plates. This results in generation, growth, implosion and subsequent production of OH radicals in the liquid matrix. The generated OH radical in the jet loop hydrodynamic cavitation was applied as a form of advanced oxidation process in combination with hydrogen peroxide, iron (II) oxides or the synthesized green nano zero valent iron (gnZVI) for the treatment of simulated textile and pharmaceutical wastewater

"No-Men in This No-Man's Land": British State, Nation and Political Enemy in John le Carré's 1960s and 1970s Cold-War Novels

This thesis examines John le Carre’s 1960s and 1970s Cold-War novels in their historical context, and devotes a chapter each to: Call for the Dead (1961), The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963), The Looking Glass War (1965), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1974), The Honourable Schoolboy (1977) and Smiley’s People (1979). The thesis argues, contra the critical and popular consensus, that far from being ‘neutral’ representations of Cold War politics, these novels give expression to a powerful liberal-national ideology. The thesis breaks down into three themes. First, le Carre’s representation of the British state is scrutinised via the intelligence services. Although le Carre’s novels have been interpreted as anti-establishment, close historicist analysis discloses a contradictory affirmation of the British establishment. The state is decried and disavowed by the novels’ protagonists for its bureaucracy, inefficiency and expedient morality, but this is a distraction from these protagonists’ actions’ defence and reassertion of the state. Second, le Carre’s representation of the British nation is examined wherein the discursive field of ‘nation’ provides insight into who and what was being fought for in the Cold War. These projections of British nationality, of a neutral ‘way of life’, also expose anxieties about British post-war social reconstruction, British Empire and British decline. The books constitute a reassertion of a conservative British nationalism, probing but ultimately reaffirming traditional class hierarchies and British ‘decency’ both at home and abroad. Thirdly, le Carre’s representation of Communism, the West’s political enemy, is analysed, offering insight into the tactical and ideological British anti-Communist effort during the Cold War. Communism is presented as an existential threat to the British society but without any clear ideological motive being revealed. In these novels a trenchant anti-Communism disproves critical claims that le Carre’s work proposes moral equivalence between East and West

Turkish German Muslims and Comedy Entertainment

Comedy entertainment is a powerful arena for serious public engagement with questions of German national identity and Turkish German migration. The German majority society and its largest labour migrant community have been asking for decades what it means to be German and what it means for Turkish Germans, Muslims of the second and third generations, to call Germany their home. Benjamin Nickl examines through the social pragmatics of humour the dynamics that underpin these questions in the still-evolving popular culture space of German mainstream humour in the 21st century. The first book-length study on the topic to combine close readings of film, television, literary and online comedy, and transnational culture studies, Turkish German Muslims and Comedy Entertainment presents the argument that Turkish German humour has moved from margin to mainstream by intervening in cultural incompatibility and Islamophobia discourse