The purpose of this project was to show the updated procedures and to make additions to the computer program called Tmin designed by E. I. DuPont De Nemours and Company. This program is used as a screening tool for determining the largest of the minimum pipe-wall thicknesses in a piping system. This project involved several additions that will be released in the next version of the Tmin computer program. The first major additions to be implemented are four alternating Stress-to-Number of cycles curves: Aluminum 1100, Aluminum 3003-0, Aluminum 6061-T6, and Nickel 200. In addition, procedures of the ASME for fatigue curve analysis and implementation of fatigue data were investigated. These four stress-to-number of cycles (S-N) fatigue curves were added to Tmin's internal Microsoft Access® database. Next, a 2-D vertical piping span configuration was incorporated. Finally, DuPont required a Microsoft Word® document output of the pipe-wall thickness data including the piping span model information. Other user-friendly additions were included. Since this computer program was to be American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) compliant, a study of the ASME Pressure Vessel and Piping standards and codes was made to determine how pipe-wall thickness calculations were to be processed. The 2-D vertical piping span calculation procedures were investigated. Once the 2-D vertical piping span analysis was complete, the largest pipe-wall thickness value calculated were passed to a Microsoft Word® document. The last implementation is the inclusion of help files. Help file button additions in all input boxes allowed for the user to know exactly what was needed before a data entry was made. / Master of Science

For every famous author of the twelfth-century renaissance, there are numerous lesser-known writers. Despite being overshadowed by more brilliant scholars or those closer to the centre of important events, their voices add depth to the study of the intellectual history of this period. A founding member of one of the earliest Premonstratensian houses; a highly-educated and prolific author, much in demand as a hagiographer; and a vigorous defender of the clerical order, Philip of Harvengt is one such writer, and a worthy subject for study. This thesis examines two bodies of Philip’s works – his letters and his hagiographical writings – analysing the predominant and recurrent concerns and ideals expressed in them, and the means by which they are expressed. The letters are carefully crafted works, examples of the literary labour which Philip writes is incumbent upon the cleric. The first part of this thesis approaches these letters in chapters on four themes: the role of the ecclesiastical prelate; the importance of learning; the relationship between religious orders; and Philip’s use of the motif of friendship. His hagiographical works, too, are examples of literary artistry, to move as well as to educate the audience. In the second part of the thesis, these will be discussed individually, with the first chapter analysing his vita of Oda, a nun attached to his own house, whom he portrays as a martyr. The succeeding chapters consider Philip’s rewritings of earlier vitae, and show how he managed his sources in order to produce vitae depicting their subjects according to his ideal model of sanctity. Philip’s letters express concerns shared by contemporaries, reflecting anxieties surrounding roles and ideal forms of living in a period immediately following the first fervour of religious renewal. His hagiographies articulate ideals of sanctity, clarifying these when they are not made sufficiently explicit in earlier works, for the better edification of an audience pursuing this vita perfecta. Both letters and hagiographies are designed to exhort and instruct the reader or listener: above all, Philip is a teacher.

No description available.

This doctoral dissertation analyses depictions of hell in sanctions, i.e. threats of punishments in Anglo-Saxon charters. I am arguing that an innovative use of sanctions as pastoral and ideological instruments effected the peak of infernal imagery in the sanctions of tenth-century royal diplomas. Belonging to the genre of ritual curses, Anglo-Saxon sanctions contain the three standard ecclesiastical curses (excommunication, anathema and damnation). It cannot be established if other requirements of ritual cursing (authoritative personnel, setting and gestures) were fulfilled. A lack of evidence, together with indications of more secular punishments, suggests that sanctions were not used as legal instruments. Their pastoral function is proposed by frightening depictions of hell and the devil, as fear is an important means of achieving salvation in biblical, homiletic and theological writings available or produced in Anglo-Saxon England. The use of the infernal motifs of Hell as a Kitchen, Satan as the Mouth of Hell and winged demons in sanctions are discussed in detail. Sanctions frequently contain the overtly didactic and pastoral device of the exemplum. Notorious sinners believed to be damned in hell (e.g. Judas) are presented as negative exempla in sanctions to deter people from transgressing against charters. The repeated use of terms from classical mythology for depicting hell in Anglo-Saxon sanctions appears to correlate with the preference for hermeneutic Latin by tenth-century monastic reformers. The reasons for employing classical mythological terminology seem to agree with those suggested for the use of hermeneutic Latin (intellectual snobbery and raising the stylistic register), and glossaries constitute the main source of both types of Latinity. The sanctions of the Refoundation Charter of New Minster, Winchester, which is known to display the ‘ruler theology’ propagated by the monastic reform, are examined in their textual contexts with regard to the observations made in the earlier parts of this dissertation.

Ziel der Dissertation ist es, eine umfassende Analyse der kambodschanisch-thailändischen diplomatischen Beziehungen von 1950 bis 2014 zu liefern. Die Arbeit geht über einen rein historischen Bericht hinaus, da sie darauf abzielt, die Wechselhaftigkeit der kambodschanisch-thailändischen Beziehungen zu erklären. Als Grundlage dient hierzu ein Ansatz sozialen Konflikts, der Staaten nicht als homogene Akteure ansieht, sondern vielmehr als eine Konfiguration konfligierender Kräfte, die ihre außenpolitischen Ziele im Einklang mit ihrer eigenen Ideologie, ihren Interessen und ihren Strategien verfolgen. Daher postuliert die Arbeit, dass die kambodschanisch-thailändischen Beziehungen nicht als Produkt einheitlicher Staaten angesehen werden sollten, die entweder miteinander kooperieren oder sich voneinander abschotten, sondern als Matrix sich überlappender Beziehungen zwischen gesellschaftlichen und politischen Gruppen beider Staaten, die konkurrierende Ideologien und/oder Interessen zur Förderung ihrer innenpolitischen Machtposition beherbergen. Das Projekt bringt zwei mit einer verknüpfte Argumente hervor. Erstens, kambodschanisch-thailändische Beziehungen sind wahrscheinlich dann kooperativ angelegt, wenn es sich bei beiden Machthabern um zivil-demokratisch gewählte Regierungen mit ähnlichen Ideologien, ökonomischen Interessen und Sicherheitsbedenken handelt. Umgekehrt verschlechtern sich die Beziehungen, wenn diese Faktoren nicht reziprok sind. Dies ist besonders dann der Fall, wenn eine der beiden Regierungen mehr mit der Opposition der anderen gemein hat. Zweitens, auch wenn antagonistische Nationalismen auf beiden Seiten bestehen, handelt es sich keinesfalls um eine Determinante, die die Außenpolitik beider Seiten festlegt. Die Arbeit argumentiert, dass Nationalismen nur dann aufgerufen werden, wenn zumindest eine der beiden Regierungen ihre Legitimität in der Heimat stärken muss und die andere Regierung nicht dieselbe Ideologie und strategischen Interessen teilt. / This dissertation aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of Cambodia-Thailand diplomatic relations over the past six decades, specifically from 1950 to 2014. In addition to empirical discussion, it seeks to explain why Cambodian-Thai relationships have fluctuated and what primary factors caused the shifts during the period discussed. In doing so, it employs the “social conflict” analysis, which views states not as unitary actors, but within which is comprised of different societal forces competing with one another and pursues foreign policies in accordance with their own ideology, interest, and strategy. As such, it is postulated that Cambodia-Thailand diplomatic relations should not be seen simply as relations between two unitary states cooperating with or securitizing against one another, but rather as a matrix of intertwining relationships between various social and political groups in both states harboring competing ideologies and/or interests to advance their power positions at home. Two inter-related arguments are therefore put forward in this research. Firstly, Cambodian-Thai relations are likely to be cooperative when both governments in power are civilian-democratically elected regimes and share similar ideologies, mutual economic interests, as well as security outlooks. Conversely, relations between them tend to deteriorate when these factors are not reciprocal. This is particularly true when one government has more in common with the dissidents of the government of the other side. Secondly, though antagonistic nationalism does exist between Cambodia and Thailand, it is not a determinant of the two nations’ foreign relations. This research argues that nationalism and historical animosity are invoked only if at least the government on one side needs to bolster its own legitimacy at home, and the government on the other side does not share a similar ideology or strategic interests with its own – the second aspect being the more important factor here.

Die Philosophie der Postmoderne sieht sich als eine Bewegung der Befreiung und der kulturellen Emanzipation. Von ihrer anti-totalitären Inspiration her ist die postmoderne Philosophie mit der Hoffnung auf ein Nachkriegs-Zeitalter verbunden, weil sie mit der Zeit der Totalitäten auch die Zeit des Krieges hinter sich bringen zu können glaubt. Hingegen zeigt eine Diskursanalyse der Schriften von drei Philosophen, die für das Gedankengebäude der philosophischen Postmoderne von zentraler Bedeutung sind - Jean-Francois Lyotard, Jean Baudrillard und Paul Virilio - zwei besondere Widersprüche auf, welche die pluralistische Option der postmodernen Philosophie in Frage stellen und damit auch ihren Anspruch, mit dem Zeitalter der Totalisierungen die Versuche zur gewaltsamen Assimilation des Anderen zu beenden und eine Rehabilitation der Anerkennung kultureller Unterschiede herbeizuführen. Zum einen beinhaltet der postmoderne philosophische Diskurs keine Ausbildung einer "positiven Barbarei" (Lyotard), sondern eine negativ konnotierte, anarchische Regellosigkeit. Zum anderen ist auch die Idee von der Differenz als der "ontologischen Dignität" der Postmoderne in sich inkohärent; vielmehr ist in postmodernem Gedankengut ein fundamentaler Entdifferenzierungsprozess angelegt. Aufgrund dieser inhärenten Widersprüche können postmoderne Theoretiker zu einer Ausbreitung eben jenes Gedankenguts und jenes Gewaltpotentials beitragen, dessen Verschwinden sie ursprünglich beabsichtigten. Wo immer heute, im Zeitalter eines entstehenden Welt-Innenraums und der vielfältigen interkulturellen Kontakte, das Konzept von Postmodernität als ein Programm zur besseren Akzeptanz des kulturell Anderen und zur Erziehung der verschiedenen Akteure im Geist der Toleranz ins Gespräch gebracht werden sollte, ist daher Skepsis angebracht. / The philosophy of the postmodern regards itself as a movement of liberation and cultural emancipation. In view of its anti-totalitarian inspiration postmodern philosophy is linked with the hope of a post-war age, because it believes it can put the times of war behind it together with the times of totalities. A discourse analysis of the writings of three philosophers who are of central importance for the body of ideas of the philosophical postmodern - Jean-Francois Lyotard, Jean Baudrillard und Paul Virilio - however reveals two particular contradictions which place a question mark against the pluralistic option of postmodern philosophy and hence against its claim to end the attempts at violent assimilation of the other together with the end of the age of totalization and to bring about a rehabilitation of the recognition of cultural differences. On the one hand the postmodern philosophical discourse does not comprise the evolution of a "positive barbarity" (Lyotard) but an anarchical lack of rules with negative connotations. On the other hand the idea of difference as the "ontological dignity" of the postmodern is in itself incoherent; it is rather the case that postmodern thought involves a fundamental process of de-differentiation. Because of these inherent contradictions in postmodern discourse postmodern theoreticians can contribute to the spread of precisely those ideas and that potential for violence whose disappearance they originally intended. Wherever today, in the age of a developing world inner space and of a multiplicity of intercultural contacts, attempts are made to propose the concept of postmodernity as a programme for the better acceptance of the cultural other and for the education of the various actors in a spirit of tolerance, these must be encountered with scepticism.

Ischämische Herzerkrankungen stellen die weltweit häufigste Todesursache dar. Das Chemokin SDF-1 zählt zu den vielversprechendsten neuen Therapietargets. Allerdings werden die dem SDF-1 Effekt zugrunde liegenden Mechanismen kontrovers diskutiert. Um den Einfluss von SDF-1 auf die Herzregeneration aufzuklären, wurden transgene Ratten generiert, welche SDF-1 in Kardiomyozyten überexprimieren. Die basale Herzfunktion war in diesen Ratten nicht verändert, jedoch zeigte sich nach Herzinfarkt eine Verschlechterung der kardialen Funktion. Des Weiteren ließen sich eine verstärkte Fibrosebildung, ein Anstieg neutrophiler Granulozyten im Blut sowie eine erhöhte Einwanderung von Makrophagen in die Herzen transgener Ratten feststellen. Dagegen waren die Anlockung von Stammzellen und die Blutgefäßneubildung nicht verändert. Diese Daten bestätigen, dass kardiales SDF-1 eine nachteilige Wirkung ausüben kann, indem es entzündliche Prozesse im geschädigten Gewebe beeinflusst. Ferner wurde ein Microarray-basiertes Screening in kardialem Gewebe nach Herzinfarkt durchgeführt. Ziel der Studie war die Identifizierung neuer Moleküle, deren Rolle bei Herzerkrankungen bislang unbekannt ist. Das Screening brachte das Glykoprotein GPNMB hervor, welches an fibrotischen Prozessen nach Gewebeschädigung beteiligt ist. Wir untersuchten das Protein mit Hilfe des DBA/2J Mausstammes, in dem kein funktionelles GPNMB vorhanden ist. Die Untersuchung dieser Mäuse ergab keine Veränderungen der basalen Herzfunktion, nach Herzinfarkt zeigte sich jedoch eine verbesserte kardiale Funktion sowie erhöhte Hämoglobinkonzentrationen im Blut. Außerdem war die Funktion von Makrophagen verändert. Darüber hinaus fanden wir erhöhte Konzentrationen von GPNMB in Plasmaproben von Patienten nach akutem Herzinfarkt. Zusammenfassend weisen die Ergebnisse darauf hin, dass GPNMB nicht nur ein vielversprechendes Therapietarget, sondern auch einen potenziellen Biomarker für ischämische Herzerkrankungen darstellt. / Ischemic heart diseases are a major cause of death worldwide due to the postmitotic state of the heart. The chemokine SDF-1 is one of the most promising novel therapeutic targets due to its ability to attract leukocytes and stem cells. However, the role of different cardiac cell types in this process remains elusive and underlying mechanisms have been controversially discussed. To clarify the role of SDF-1 and its receptor CXCR4 in myocardial regeneration, we generated transgenic rats overexpressing SDF-1 in cardiomyocytes. The function of the heart at baseline was not altered in these rats, whereas the induction of myocardial infarction resulted in impaired cardiac function and remodeling. This finding was accompanied by increased fibrosis, neutrophil blood counts and macrophage infiltration into the heart. On the other hand, stem cell recruitment and neovascularization were not altered in SDF-1 transgenic rats. In conclusion, our findings confirm that the SDF-1/CXCR4 axis can have adverse effects by affecting the inflammatory state of the healing heart. In addition, a microarray-based screening was conducted in rat hearts after myocardial infarction with the aim to discover yet unknown molecules involved in cardiac repair. This screening yielded GPNMB, a glycoprotein known to be involved in inflammatory and fibrotic processes after tissue injury. We studied the protein further using DBA/2J mice that lack functional levels of GPNMB. While the cardiac function was normal in these mice at baseline, induction of myocardial infarction revealed a preservation of cardiac function, less dilatation as well as higher red blood cell and hemoglobin levels. Moreover, the absence of GPNMB resulted in an altered activity and distribution of macrophages. We also found increased levels of GPNMB in plasma of patients after myocardial infarction. In conclusion, our findings suggest that GPNMB might constitute a novel therapeutic target and biomarker of acute ischemic heart diseases.

Bei dieser Untersuchung geht es darum, welche Rolle die Erwachsenenbildung sowohl für die Anpassung der Ostdeutschen an das neue Gesellschaftssystem als auch für innere Einheit beider deutschen Staaten nach der deutschen Wiedervereinigung in Deutschland gespielt hat, da Erwachsenenbildung in Phasen des gesellschaftlichen Umbruchs auf verschiedene Weise flexibel auf aktuelle gesellschaftliche Aufgaben reagieren kann und einen Beitrag zur Bewältigung der neuen politischen und ökonomischen Anforderungen leisten kann. In diesem Hintergrund werden in dieser Untersuchung die im Bereich der EB/WB stattgefundenen Tagungsdiskussionen (Konzertierte Aktion Weiterbildung) kritisch analysiert, um zu bewerten, welche Rolle sie im Prozess der deutschen Einheit gespielt hat, wobei diese auf der Bundes- sowie Landesebene angesiedelten Tagungsdiskussionen zwischen verschiedenen Bildungsakteuren wie Wissenschaftlicher, Politiker, Praktiker, usw. für die konkrete Umsetzung der Erwachsenenbildung von entscheidender Bedeutung sind. Die Untersuchungsbefunde zeigen, dass sich die Tagungsdiskussionen hauptsächlich auf die berufliche Weiterbildung beziehen und sie andere wichtigen Herausforderungen wie die Demokratieentwicklung, die gegenseitige Annährung zwischen beiden Seiten Deutschlands wenig thematisieren. Letztendlich sie zeigen, dass der Beitrag von Weiterbildung bezogen auf die Herausforderung zur „harmonischen Integration“ darin liegt, die Menschen demokratiefähig zu machen, indem sie die Chance bekommen, ihre sozialen und personalen Kompetenzen zu erweitern und arbeitsmarktfähig zu halten, indem sie ihre beruflich-fachliche Qualifikation verbessern können. Dabei liegt die Bedeutung der Tagungsdiskussion darin, dass sie den Austausch zwischen Bildungsexperten aus verschiedenen gesellschaftlichen Bereichen ermöglicht hat. / This thesis focuses on the roles of adult education that have been played not only for the adaptation of East Germans in the new society system after the unification of Germany, but also for the inner unification between East and West Germans, since especially adult education can react flexibly to the current social challenges in various respects at the time of social changes and make a contribution to accommodate the new political and economic demands. In this research I try to analyse mainly the debate of conferences taken place in the field of adult education, particularly between experts like professors, specialists, politicians etc… and to estimate what role the debate of conferences has played in the process of German unification, especially concerning the implementation of adult education in East Germany after the German unification. The results of the research show that the debate of conferences was much more focussing on the theme about vocational education than the important problems such as Democratizing, inner Unification of East and West Germans. In terms of the ‘inner Unification’ the results of the research show that adult education contributes to make people act democratically since they have chance to extend social personal competent to improve their vocational Qualification. In this Relation the conferences make it possible for experts from various social fields to exchange and cooperate each other.

This paper studies the fragmentation and reuse of early christian monuments ("eskilstunakistor") in churches in Östergötland during the medieval period. This is found to have been done in two stages. The first stage shows a collectivization of society. Within religion the change from ancestoral cult towards the saints' cult is important as the fragments are reused like relics. During the second stage the collectivization has been fulfilled, and the reuse is instead part of the christian churches' strategy for incorporating old powerful symbols from the landscape into their own church building.

We report on the spatial and temporal signaling properties of a yeast pheromone-based cell communication and amplifier system. It utilizes the Saccharomyces cerevisiae mating response pathway and relies on diffusion of the pheromone α–factor as key signaling molecule between two cell types. One cell type represents the α–factor secreting sensor part and the other the reporter part emitting fluorescence upon activation. Although multi-cellular signaling systems promise higher specificity and modularity, the complex interaction of the cells makes prediction of sensor performance difficult. To test the maximum distance and response time between sensor and reporter cells, the two cell types were spatially separated in defined compartments of agarose hydrogel (5 ´ 5 mm) and reconnected by diffusion of the yeast pheromone. Different ratios of sensor to reporter cells were tested to evaluate the minimum amount of sensor cells required for signal transduction. Even the smallest ratio, one α–factor-secreting cell to twenty reporter cells, generated a distinct fluorescence signal. When using a 1:1 ratio, the secreted pheromone induced fluorescence in a distance of up to four millimeters after six hours. We conclude from both our experimental results and a mathematical diffusion model that in our approach: (1) the maximum dimension of separated compartments should not exceed five millimeters in gradient direction; and (2) the time-limiting step is not diffusion of the signaling molecule but production of the reporter protein.