This thesis focuses on the politics of Antipope Victor IV and his successors Paschal III, Calixtus III and Innocent III, who were the opponents of Alexander III since the schismatic elections of 1159. The aim is to analyse the political thinking and actions of the antipopes, with an emphasis on the political relations of Victor IV. The thesis is divided into six thematic sections. The first deals with the pre-election developments and the election of 1159 itself. The second considers their position in relation to Alexander III, while the third turns to the papal-imperial policy and examines the relationship between the antipopes and Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. The fourth section discusses the status and relations of the antipopes outside the Holy Roman Empire. The penultimate chapter examines the attitude of the imperial clergy to the pontificates of the antipopes as well as the obedience of the imperial monasteries, according to papal documents. The final chapter constructs biographies of the antipopes, focusing on the period before their pontificates.

Title: The Last Princess of Luxembourg. The Life Elizabeth of Görlitz in the Period between Years 1390 - 1425. Abstract: The thesis aims to describe the life of the last princess of the House of Luxembourg, Elisabeth of Görlitz. Based on an analysis of narrative and diplomatic material spanning between 1390 - 1425 it describes her life from birth until the moment she ultimately became a widow. Elisabeth of Görlitz (1390 - 1451) was the granddaughter of the emperor Charles the IV. and the Swedish king Albrecht I. During a significant period she used to be the only heir of the House of Luxembourg and therefore since her childhood she was an important woman from the political point of view. She married Anthony Duke of Brabant after several unsuccessful engagements. This marriage led Elizabeth to the Western Europe, where she spent the rest of her life. Thanks to this marriage, Luxembourg became the property of the newly married couple. After few years Anthony died in one of the most famous battles of Hundred Years' War - The battle of Agincourt. Soon after that, Elizabeth got married for the second time. Her second husband was John III the Pitiless, the former Prince-Bishop of Liège, which was during this time most known for his efforts of acquiring Holland and Zeeland. However, John died a few years after the...

Cette thèse porte sur les relations entre la noblesse et le prince dans les duchés de Lorraine au coursd’une période qui s’étend des années 1620 à 1737. Elle les explore dans le cadre d’un renforcement du pouvoirducal et dans une période de transition troublée.Dans cet État souverain des confins, la noblesse représentée par quelques puissantes familles issues del’ancienne chevalerie incarne l’élite sociale, morale, et politique. Étroitement associée aux responsabilités, elleest affectée au premier plan par les ruptures qui scandent le XVIIe siècle : la guerre, l’occupation française etl’exil. Autant d’évènements qui déstabilisent le service princier et éprouvent la fidélité au duc, fondementessentiel des rapports de la noblesse au pouvoir. Cette étude revisite les notions de service, de devoir etd’honneur, constitutives de l’identité nobiliaire.Après plus d’un demi-siècle de désordres, la paix de Ryswick (1697) ramène la stabilité et le princeretrouve ses duchés. Le rétablissement de l’État s’effectue dans une dialectique entre tradition et changement. Lanoblesse qui aspire à retrouver sa place auprès du duc est confrontée à de nouvelles incertitudes qu’elle surmontegrâce à la résurgence de la faveur princière et au prix d’une recomposition de l’ordre.L’équilibre des forces est mis à mal en 1729 avec l’avènement de François III dont le destin se joue pardelàles frontières. Détaché de son territoire patrimonial, le jeune souverain rompt le lien avec la noblesselorraine et met fin à l’impératif absolu du service princier.L’étude des relations entre la noblesse et le duc durant le long XVIIe siècle est une réflexion sur lasociété politique d’un État aux limites sensibles et aléatoires. / This study tackles the relation between nobility and prince in the Duchies of Lorraine during the periodthat spans from the 1620s to 1737. The academic frame in which it is explored is one marked by reinforced ducalpower and by much turmoil within a transitory period.In such a border-line sovereign state, the nobility as represented by a few powerful houses stemmingfrom ancient chivalric backgrounds, embodies the social, moral and political elite of the day. Closely involved inthe Duke’s wields of executive power, and more than any other social body, nobles suffered from the manypoints of rupture that punctuated the 17th century : wars, French occupation and exile did indeed challeng thePrince’s service. These points of rupture jeopardized the fidelity to the Duke, one of the essential foundations ofthe link between the nobility and Power. The study revisits such key-notions as service, duty, and honour,notions which shape up nobles’ identity.After more than a half-century of disorders of all kinds, the Ryswick Peace (1697) brought the situationback to a relative stability and the Prince regained his Duchies. Putting back the State to its feet implied adialectical tension between tradition and change. The nobility eager to regain former responsabilities isconfronted with new uncertainties that will be partly overcome by the resurgence of princely favours and areshuffling of the Order.The balance of forces is put at stake in 1729 when Francois III comes to the throne and his fate is tomaterialize beyond frontiers. Detached from its heritage territory, the prince unbinds the ties which linked thenobility and puts an end to the absolute imperative of a prince’s service.The study of relations between nobility and duke throughout the long 17th century consists in an overallquestioning of a political society in a border-conscious and border-moving state.

Une somme considérable de légendes véhiculent des images éculées d’Henri IV et Louis XIII. Au premier d’être alors évoqué comme un personnage débonnaire, guerrier, vert galant, préférant les joies populaires de la poule au pot et des chansons licencieuses du Pont Neuf aux fastueux spectacles de cour, quand son fils est appréhendé comme un monarque taciturne, dominé par sa mère puis par le tout-puissant Richelieu. Rarement l’intérêt se porte alors sur leurs personnalités politiques qui pourtant, animées par la passion de la gloire, pleinement conscientes de leur rôle de souverains du royaume, usèrent toutes deux de l’art à des fins d’autorité, ouvrant la voie à leur illustre descendant : Louis XIV. Notre étude a pour ambition première d’analyser quel fut l’initiation, voire l’édification, de ces deux souverains. Les usages politiques des spectacles de cour ont pour beaucoup été mis en exergue, mais le lien entre éducation artistique et politique est, quant à lui, bien moins étudié. Or, apprentissage politique et enseignement artistique passent par la ‘‘rencontre’’ entre l’enfant et les spectacles. De cette rencontre, le prince pourra envisager les potentialités du fastueux et utiliser ces premières expériences comme une référence qu’il accommodera par la suite, à son profit. Quelle place fut alors donnée à la musique dans la formation humaniste que reçut le jeune Henri de Navarre ? Quel fut le rôle confié aux arts dans l’éducation de Louis XIII, tandis que sa mère, digne représentante de la dynastie Médicis, mettait un point d’honneur à entourer sa cour de fêtes perpétuelles ? Ce sont en effet les femmes, c’est indéniable, qui jouèrent un rôle de tout premier plan dans la mise en place et le développement des spectacles utilisés pour servir la propagande royaliste. C’est cette réflexion, autour de la place de ces ‘‘muses’’ dans la formation des souverains au mécénat artistique et plus encore à l’utilisation politique des arts, qui nourrit notre première partie. La seconde est entièrement consacrée à l’utilisation propagandiste de l’art. Sous les premiers Bourbons, la musique se développa sous ses aspects les plus divers, psaumes, cantiques, chansons populaires ou airs de cour, ballets, tous utilisés afin d’ancrer plus fortement leurs règnes au cœur de la tradition monarchiste française. Sous ces souverains, au pouvoir bien controversé, les fêtes firent partie intégrante de la stratégie gouvernementale ; elles ne jouèrent plus seulement le rôle décisif, mais désormais connu, de consolidateurs du pouvoir en place mais le légitimèrent, l’assirent. Ainsi naquit la dynastie Bourbon. / A considerable amount of legends conveys hackneyed images of Henri IV and Louis XIII. The first one was then evoked as a good-natured, warlike figure and a Green Gallant who preferred the popular enjoyments of the boiled chicken and the bawdy songs of the Pont Neuf to the celebrations of the Valois court. His son was, as for him, considered as a taciturn monarch, dominated by his mother or by the almighty Cardinal Richelieu. Curiosity is then rarely aroused by their political personalities which, nevertheless livened up by the passion of the glory, conscious of their role as Kings of France, used both the art for authority purposes, opening the way to their illustrious descendant: Louis XIV.The first purpose of this study is to explore the initiation, if not the edification, of these sovereigns. The political uses of the splendoures were largely underlined, but the link between arts and political education is not much studied. Yet political learning and art education are conveyed by the "encounter" between the child and these shows. This encounter enables the prince to consider the potentialities of the luxurious, and to use these early experiences as a reference that he will accommodate to his profit afterward. Then what place was given to the music in the humanist formation received by the young Henri de Navarre? What was the role assigned to arts in the education of Louis XIII, while his mother, deserving representative of the Medici dynasty, made it a point of honor to provide her court with perpetual celebrations? Women undeniably played a first rank role in the implementation and the development of the court’s shows used to serve the royalist propaganda. This reflection around the role of these "muses" concerning the education of the sovereigns in the artistic sponsorship in addition to the political use of the arts will be the main focus of the first part. The second part is entirely dedicated to the propagandist use of the art. Under the first Bourbons, music developed as a wide range of appearances, psalms or hymns, popular songs or ‘‘airs de cour’’, ballets. All these forms emerged, anchoring more strongly their reigns in the tradition of the French monarchy. Under Henri IV and under his son, asserting a controversial power, the fêtes were part of the governmental strategy; they did not only play a decisive role in strengthening the power any more, they legitimized it, they consolidated it. This is how the dynasty of Bourbons was born.

Cílem práce bylo vytvořit základní koncept integrovaného výměníku tepla pro solí chlazený reaktor vyvíjený společností Terrestrial Energy s využitím programu Promex. První kapitola se zabývá historií a současnou situací v oblasti výzkumu malých modulárních reaktorů chlazených fluoridovými solemi. Ve druhé kapitole jsou popsány vlastnosti fluoridových solí a konstrukčních materiálů. Poslední kapitola se zabývá simulací tepelného výměníku pomocí programu Promex, validací modelu, transformací protiproudého výměníku na výměník s U trubkami a vizualizací výměníku s použitím CAD Invetoru.

St Vitus' Cathedral in Prague: Liturgy, Symbolism and Architectural Imitation in Medieval Bohemia In this thesis, the focus is put on the Wenceslas Chapel in St Vitus' Cathedral, the unusual design of which seems to have two levels of meanings: On the one hand, it was probably designed as a recreation of an earlier rotunda that had been founded by St Wenceslas. On the other hand, it seems that the intention was made the chapel and the whole cathedral would resemble the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, where the Calvary Chapel occupied the same position as the Wenceslas Chapel. This was most likely inspired by presence of the Imperial insignia containing the valuable Passion relics that Charles had acquired in 1350 and placed in the basilica, probably near the Wenceslas Chapel. Perhaps from that reason Charles had the new Gothic chapel decorated with semi-precious stones, because its red spots were associated with the blood of Christ and the Passion. The Wenceslas Chapel together with two Passion chapels at Karlstein Castle, containing Charles IV's private passion treasure, gave rise to the "Passion" architecture of the Luxembourg period. It included the church of St Margaret in the Cistercian monastery in Zlatá Koruna and the Resurrection Chapel attached to the church of SS Peter and Paul at...

This thesis focuses on the image of Emperor and King Charles IV of Luxembourg in the Czech humanistic historiography of the 16th century. Firstly, the sources of this work and literature dedicated to the topic are introduced. The genre of the chronicle, history and historical chronicle are defined and are supported by academic literature. Following, humanism in the Czech and European environment is further discussed. The history of humanistic literature in a Czech environment and the history of humanistic historiography of this area are also presented. The main focus is dedicated to authors and their work, specifically those that are the sources of this thesis. Work such as Aeneas Silvius Bartholomeus Piccolomini (pope Pius II), his work Historia Bohemica and his three early modern history translations into the Czech language, done by Jan Húska, Mikuláš Konáč of Hodiškov and Daniel Adam of Veleslavín. Authors who have also published it in his book Kroniky dvě o založení země české. Work which also included an introduction written by him, that is further discussed in the thesis. Moreover, the thesis looks into Václav Hájek of Libočany and his Kronika česká, Prokop Lupáč of Hlaváčov and his Historia o císaři Karlovi, Martin Kuthen of Šprinsberk and his work Kronika o založení země české, which Daniel...

The biological half-life of several pro-inflammatory mediators involved in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is controlled by molecules exhibiting dipeptidyl peptidase-IV (DPP-IV)-like enzymatic activity (Dipeptidyl peptidase-IV activity and/or structure homologues- DASH). The aim of this thesis was to identify the molecular source of the DPP-IV-like enzymatic activity in the peripheral blood and synovial fluid in patients with rheumatoid arthritis as compared to control patients with osteoarthritis (OA), and to evaluate the association of DPP-IV with the disease activity. We found that the main source of the DPP-IV-like enzyme activity in the plasma and in the synovial fluid in patients with RA is the canonical DPP-IV. DPP-IV-like enzymatic activity and canonical DPP-IV were also detected on the cell surface of blood and synovial fluid mononuclear cells. Significantly lower DPP-IV-like enzymatic activity and DPP-IV expression in the synovial fluid mononuclear cells was found in RA as opposed to OA patients. In the synovial fluid of RA patients there was also a negative correlation between the concentration of the pro-inflammatory DPP-IV substrate SDF (stromal cell-derived factor-1 and the proportion of the DPP-IV+ T cells. The blood plasma DPP-IV-like enzymatic activity and...

Mitochondrial protein homeostasis is crucial for cellular function and integrity. It is ensured by many specific mitochondrial proteases with possible chaperone functions located across the various mitochondrial subcompartments. In the first part, we have focused on characterization of functional overlap and cooperativity of proteolytic subunits AFG3L2 and YME1L of the mitochondrial inner membrane complexes m- and i-AAA in HEK293 cells. The double AFG3L2/YME1L knockdown cells showed severe alteration in OPA1 protein processing, marked elevation in OMA1 protease and severe reduction in SPG7. Our results reveal cooperative and partly redundant involvement of AFG3L2 and YME1L in the maintenance of mitochondrial protein homeostasis and further emphasize their importance for mitochondrial and cellular function and integrity. The aim of the second part was to characterize the cellular function of LACE1 (lactation elevated 1) in mitochondrial protein homeostasis. LACE1 protein is a human homologue of yeast Afg1 (ATPase family gene 1) ATPase. We show that LACE1 is a mitochondrial integral membrane protein that exists as a part of three complexes of approximately 140, 400 and 500 kDa. We demonstrate that LACE1 mediates degradation of nuclear-encoded complex IV subunits COX4, COX5A and COX6A. Using affinity...

Thesis (MScEng (Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / The sustainability and economy of the current South African National Antarctic Expedition IV (SANAE IV) base diesel-electric power system are threatened by the current high fuel prices and the environmental pollution reduction obligations. This thesis presents the potential technical, environmental and economical challenges associated with the integration of small wind energy conversion system (WECS) with the current SANAE IV diesel fuelled power system. Criteria derived from technical, environmental and economic assessments are applied in the evaluation of eight commercially available wind turbines as to determine the most technically and economically feasible candidates. Results of the coastal Dronning Maud Land and the local Vesleskarvet cold climate assessments based on long term meteorological data and field data are presented. Field experiments were performed during the 2007-2008 austral summer. These results are applied in the generation of a wind energy resource map and in the derivation of technical wind turbine evaluation criteria. The SANAE IV energy system and the electrical grid assessments performed are based on long term fuel consumption records and 2008 logged data. Assessment results led to the identification of SANAE IV specific avoidable wind turbine grid integration issues. Furthermore, electro-technical criteria derived from these results are applied in the evaluation of the eight selected wind turbines. Conceptual wind turbine integration options and operation modes are also suggested. Wind turbine micro-siting incorporating Vesleskarvet specific climatological, environmental and technical related issues are performed. Issues focusing on wind turbine visual impact, air traffic interference and the spatial Vesleskarvet wind distribution are analysed. Three potential sites suited for the deployment of a single or, in the near future, a cluster of small wind turbines are specified. Economics of the current SANAE IV power system based on the South African economy (May 2008) are analysed. The life cycle economic impact associated with the integration of a small wind turbine with the current SANAE IV power system is quantified. Results of an economic sensitivity analysis are used to predict the performance of the proposed wind-diesel power systems. All wind turbines initially considered will recover their investment costs within 20 years and will yield desirable saving as a result of diesel fuel savings, once integrated with the SANAE IV diesel fuelled power system. Finally, results of the technical and economical evaluation of the selected commercially available wind turbines indicated that the Proven 6 kWrated, Bergey 10 kWrated and Fortis 10 kWrated wind turbines are the most robust and will yield feasible savings.