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The slasher subgenre is one of the most maligned and misunderstood cultural phenomenon of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. A psychoanalytical approach applied selectively to key sequences of a small selection of texts led to the formation of early slasher theory and created the basis of our academic understanding of this subgenre. This has resulted in the contexts and subtexts of the slasher film being overlooked or omitted in favour of the application of abstract theories to either reinforce or critique this understanding provided by a few key theorists. Further research into the cultural, historical, and political contexts and subtexts of the slasher film alongside the many methodologies that applied after the early slasher theory period is required to find an alternate approach to base subsequent studies on. To achieve this, a new theoretical framework must be established that treats the slasher film as a cultural artefact rather than as a psychosexual ritual or a social aberration. This new framework will be created through close readings of the slasher franchises that are most representative of the subgenre, examinations of the culture that generated these texts, and by contrasting them against less maligned cultural artefacts. By distancing ourselves from moral judgements, essentialist readings of gender, and assumptions about a non-existent homogenous audience, we can reconnect the slasher film to its cultural, historical, and political contexts. Alongside this, the slasher film's major components, the killer, the victim, and the survivor, need to be redefined and its meaning and structure need to be recontextualised. This will allow us to re-examine the slasher subgenre from a new perspective that will position the slasher film as an important element of North American culture that reflects the horrors of modernity.

An investigation was made into the effect of rf magnetron deposition parameters on the resulting properties of chromium oxide thin films. The films were sputtered in an argon/ oxygen plasma environment with the main deposition parameters being the argon and oxygen flow rate, chamber pressure, deposition-time and the deposition power (forward and back). Tire effect of the sputter deposition regime which is controlled by the sputtering hysteresis phenomenon i.e. the reactive and metallic regimes, are expected to have a significant effect on the properties of the sputtered films and will have to be taken into account. The films were deposited on a range of substrates such as silicon, glass micro-slides and stainless steel 304 and the composition of the mainly amorphous sputtered films was determined through XPS, EDX and XRD. Optical characterisation and determination of optical constants was undertaken by transmission/reflection spectrophotometry, ellipsometry and Raman and FTIR analysis. Two designs of a solar thermal absorber (multilayer interference and tandem absorber) were designed and fabricated based on the optical constants measured by the methods previously stated and their performance analysed. The surface energy was calculated through measurement of the contact angle with three different liquids and the corrosion resistance of the films measured by OCP, linear sweep and EIS analysis in 3.5wt% NaCI solution. The mechanical properties were measured by nanoindentation, from which the hardness and elastic modulus of the samples could be obtained. The electrical properties were measured using a four point probe to calculate the thin film resistivity and the Kelvin probe analysis was used to measure the work function of the samples.

This study has demonstrated that the phenomenon of acoustic emission can be used to detect and monitor first time deformation characteristics in stiff, heavily-overconsolidated clay soils. The results from two field studies are presented and discussed with the aim of identifying the mechanisms responsible for the generation of acoustic emission. The first study, conducted at the Building Research Establishment's test site at Cowden (Humberside), was a section of cliff, naturally eroded by sea action. The second study, conducted in a 'moth-balled' brick-pit in Arlesey (Bedfordshire), was a large scale test in which instability was induced in a cut slope (in the Gault Clay) by cutting away at the toe. A number of different designs of wave guide were installed at both sites in order to determine the relative performance of each and, also, to provide further insight into the generation mechanisms. Some consideration has also been given to the effect of alternative data processing techniques. The results obtained indicate that the active wave guide model is the more appropriate in explaining the occurrence of acoustic emission and this finding is supported by the results of laboratory tests designed to replicate the perceived role of the wave guide in the field. In itself, identification of the generation mechanism is a result but, more importantly, understanding of the mechanics enables the design of monitoring systems which are suited to particular geotechnical conditions. Some comparison is also made between acoustic emission and standard methods of deformation monitoring. It is observed that acoustic emission can detect and clearly indicate disturbances at the same time as standard methods record such small magnitudes of movement as to be indistinguishable from instrument error. Additionally, a number of triaxial shear tests were conducted on a selection of soils which illustrates that different soils do exhibit different acoustic characteristics. Finally, this study demonstrates the feasibility of envelope processing using analogue to digital signal conversion both in the field and laboratory. Four published papers pertaining to work described within this thesis are appended.