The Hollywood film industry is examined, in general, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and its longtime art director, Cedric Gibbons, in particular. Eight MGM films are discussed and their interiors analyzed for related influence from the 1925 Paris Exposition.
The thesis makes a case for the influence of the 1925 Paris Exposition on Cedric Gibbons and the interiors of the MGM films of the late 1920s and 30s.
Scholars argue that masculinity and war are united because masculinity is best observed through male-dominated arenas, such as the military. Moreover, film can serve as a medium to not only establish what is socially acceptable, but play an active role in the creation of one’s identity. Filmmakers past and present have employed the motif of masculinity in their war films, which put it at the center of the social structure and creates an overall acceptable cultural ideology. These filmmakers have established the overall rules, themes, and methods used as part of the war film genre. These rules, themes, and methods served well for pre-1970 American war cinema, when women were not allowed in the military as soldiers. However, as of 2003, female soldiers have grown to comprise twenty percent of the active soldiers and officers in the military. Studies on masculinity construction are well documented in World War II, Vietnam, and Gulf War-era combat films; however, little has been studied on post-9/11 American war films involving the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Using literature on masculinity constructs, both inside and outside of film, as well as social construction theory, identity theory, genre theory, and auteur theory, this dissertation textually examines masculinity construction in six post-9/11 American war films. This dissertation finds that the contemporary war genre continues to construct masculinity similar to past eras of war film. Comradery, the warrior image, not showing emotion, having a violent demeanor, and the demonization of women and cowardice were all prevalent in one or more of the films analyzed in this study. However, there were many nontraditional masculine ideals that were implemented, such as women being present and taking an active role as soldiers, as well as women being portrayed in the warrior image. The films analyzed demonstrate that the war film genre is still depicting and therefore socially constructing masculinity in a way that was prevalent in pre-1970 war films. However, the genre is evolving and nontraditional masculinity constructs are starting to present themselves.
As these two aspects of the solar cell framework improve, the need for a thorough analysis of their respective contribution under varying operation conditions has emerged along with challenges related to the lack of sensitivity of available characterization techniques. The main objective of my thesis work has been to establish a deep understanding of both “intrinsic” and “extrinsic” recombination processes that govern performance in high-quality silicon absorbers. By studying each recombination mechanism as a function of illumination and temperature, I strive to identify the lifetime limiting defects and propose a path to engineer the ultimate silicon solar cell.
This dissertation presents a detailed description of the experimental procedure required to deconvolute surface recombination contributions from bulk recombination contributions when performing lifetime spectroscopy analysis. This work proves that temperature- and injection-dependent lifetime spectroscopy (TIDLS) sensitivity can be extended to impurities concentrations down to 109 cm-3, orders of magnitude below any other characterization technique available today. A new method for the analysis of TIDLS data denominated Defect Parameters Contour Mapping (DPCM) is presented with the aim of providing a visual and intuitive tool to identify the lifetime limiting impurities in silicon material. Surface recombination velocity results are modelled by applying appropriate approaches from literature to our experimentally evaluated data, demonstrating for the first time their capability to interpret temperature-dependent data. In this way, several new results are obtained which solve long disputed aspects of surface passivation mechanisms. Finally, we experimentally evaluate the temperature-dependence of Auger lifetime and its impact on a theoretical intrinsically limited solar cell. These results decisively point to the need for a new Auger lifetime parameterization accounting for its temperature-dependence, which would in turn help understand the ultimate theoretical efficiency limit for a solar cell under real operation conditions.