The Viceroyalty of Lord Reading, 1921-1926: with particular reference to the political and constitutional progress of India

This thesis will investigate and evaluate the Viceroyalty of Lord Reading, from 1921-26, with particular reference to the constitutional and political progress of India during that time. Reading faced political unrest from two organisations, the non-co-operation movement led by Mahatma Gandhi, and the Khilafat movement, under the Ali Brothers, which were temporarily united in opposition to the Government. In order to restore political stability it was essential for Reading to pacify this opposition, and the degree of success he achieved will be investigated. Reading faced the problem of whether to arrest the nationalist leaders, how to pacify Muslim opposition to aspects of British Foreign Policy and how to keep India tranquil during the visit of the Prince of Wales in December 1921. Reading's handling of political unrest was regarded by some of his Provincial Governors as unsatisfactory. This brought the Viceroy and three of his Governors into conflict. The causes and consequences of this conflict will be examined, as will be the conflict between the Viceroy and three Indian princes who were unwilling to accept the overlordship of the Raj. In the area of constitutional change Reading was to be responsible for the introduction of the reforms laid down in the Government of India Act 1919. This Act included such measures as the introduction of dyarchy. The Indianization of the services was also to be introduced. The process by which these changes were made, and the role played by the Viceroy in their smooth introduction, will be analysed. The Viceroy's responsibilities also included control of economic and foreign policy. After a series of unbalanced budgets, India was facing severe economic problems in 1921, and Reading needed to find a solution. In foreign affairs two areas caused concern, the problems of Indians living in southern Africa, and the threat of Russian Involvement in Afghanistan. Reading's attempts to solve these problems will be analysed. Finally, as a member of the British judiciary, Reading's influence on the Indian legal system was significant, and the Viceroy was to regard it as his most valuable contribution to India

Distributed feedback lasers based on green fluorescent protein and conformal high refractive index oxide layers

Funding: European Research Council (ERC StG ABLASE, 640012). M.K. and A.M. acknowledge funding from the EPSRC DTG (EP/M506631/1 and EP/M508214/1). L.T. acknowledges studentship funding through the EPSRC CM-CDT (EP/L015110/1). M.S. acknowledges funding from the Royal Society (Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship, DH160102). I.D.W.S. acknowledges funding from a Royal Society Wolfson research merit award.Fluorescent proteins have emerged as an attractive gain material for lasers, especially for devices requiring biocompatibility. However, due to their optical properties, integration with distributed feedback (DFB) resonators is not readily achievable. Here, a DFB laser with enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) as the gain material is demonstrated by incorporating a thin (65 nm), high refractive index (n = 2.12) ZrO2 interlayer as waveguide core. Deposition of ZrO2 via atomic layer deposition yields a smooth and conformal film as required to minimize optical losses. Lasing emission is obtained from 2D second‐order DFB eGFP lasers at pump power densities above 56.6 kW cm–2 and a wavelength tuning range of Δλ = 51.7 nm is demonstrated. Furthermore, it is shown that in contrast to conventional organic DFB lasers, both transverse electric (TE) and transverse magnetic (TM) modes are accessible. The effective refractive index of these modes can be predicted accurately through optical modelling. Using far‐field imaging, the laser beam profile is studied and TE and TM modes are distinguished.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Using carbon-14 and carbon-13 measurements for source attribution of atmospheric methane in the Athabasca oil sands region

The rapidly expanding and energy-intensive production from the Canadian oil sands, one of the largest oil reserves globally, accounts for almost 12&thinsp;% of Canada's greenhouse gas emissions according to inventories. Developing approaches for evaluating reported methane (CH4) emission is crucial for developing effective mitigation policies, but only one study has characterized CH4 sources in the Athabasca oil sands region (AOSR). We tested the use of 14C and 13C carbon isotope measurements in ambient CH4 from the AOSR to estimate source contributions from key regional CH4 sources: (1)&nbsp;tailings ponds, (2)&nbsp;surface mines and processing facilities, and (3)&nbsp;wetlands. The isotopic signatures of ambient CH4 indicate that the CH4 enrichments measured at the site were mainly influenced by fossil CH4 emissions from surface mining and processing facilities (56&thinsp;&plusmn;&thinsp;18&thinsp;%), followed by fossil CH4 emissions from tailings ponds (34&thinsp;&plusmn;&thinsp;18&thinsp;%) and to a lesser extent modern CH4 emissions from wetlands (10&thinsp;&plusmn;&thinsp;&lt;1&thinsp;%). Our results confirm the importance of tailings ponds in regional CH4 emissions and show that this method can successfully distinguish wetland CH4 emissions. In the future, the isotopic characterization of CH4 sources and measurements from different seasons and wind directions are needed to provide a better source attribution in the AOSR. &nbsp;</p

Low-threshold polariton lasing in a highly disordered conjugated polymer

Funding. China Scholarship Council; Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/L015110/1, EP/M025330/1).Low-threshold, room-temperature polariton lasing is crucial for future application of polaritonic devices. Conjugated polymers are attractive candidates for room-temperature polariton lasers, due to their high exciton binding energy, very high oscillator strength, easy fabrication, and tunability. However, to date, polariton lasing has only been reported in one conjugated polymer, ladder-type MeLPPP, whose very rigid structure gives an atypically narrow excitonic linewidth. Here, we observe polariton lasing in a highly disordered prototypical conjugated polymer, poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene), thereby opening up the field of polymer materials for polaritonics. The long-range spatial coherence of the emission shows a maximum fringe visibility contrast of 72%. The observed polariton lasing threshold (27.7  μJ/cm2, corresponding to an absorbed pump fluence of 19.1  μJ/cm2) is an order of magnitude smaller than for the previous polymer polariton laser, potentially bringing electrical pumping of such devices a step closer.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe