A multitude of processes cooperate to produce the sensation of sound. The key initial step, the transformation from mechanical motion into an electrical signal, takes place in highly specialized mechanosensitive organelles that are called hair bundles due to their characteristic appearance. Each hair bundle comprises many apposed cylindrical stereocilia that are located in a liquid-filled compartment of the inner ear. The viscous liquid surrounding the hair bundle dissipates energy and dampens oscillations, which poses a fundamental physical challenge to the high sensitivity and sharp frequency selectivity of hearing. To understand the structure-function relationship in this complex system, a realistic physical model of the hair bundle with an appropriate representation of the fluid-structure interactions is needed to identify the relevant physical effects. In this work a novel approach is introduced to analyze the mechanics of the fluid-structure interaction problem in the inner ear. Because the motions during normal mechanotransduction are much smaller than the geometrical scales, a unified linear system of equations describes with sufficient accuracy the behavior of the liquid and solid in terms of a displacement variable. The finite-element method is employed to solve this system of partial differential equations. Based on data from the hair bundle of the bullfrog's sacculus, a detailed model is constructed that resolves simultaneously the interaction with the surrounding liquid as well as the coupling liquid in the narrow gaps between the individual stereocilia. The experimental data are from high-resolution interferometric measurements at physiologically relevant amplitudes in the range from a fraction of a nanometer to several tens of nanometers and over a broad range of frequencies from one millihertz to hundred kilohertz. Different modes of motion are analyzed and their induced viscous drag is calculated. The investigation reveals that grouping stereocilia in a bundle dramatically reduces the total drag as compared to the sum of the drags on individual stereocilia moving in isolation. The stereocilia in a hair bundle are interconnected by oblique tip links that transmit the energy in a sound to the mechanotransduction channels and by horizontal top connectors that provide elastic coupling between adjacent stereocilia. During hair-bundle deflections, the tip links induce additional drag by causing small but very dissipative relative motions between stereocilia; this effect is offset by the horizontal top connectors that restrain such relative movements, assuring that the hair bundle moves as a unit and keeping the total drag low. In the model the stiffness of the links, the stiffness of the stereocilia, and the geometry are carefully adjusted to match experimental observations. The references are stiffness and drag measurements, as well as the coherence measurements for the bundle's opposite edges, both with and without the tip links. The results are further validated by a comparison with the relative motions measured in a sinusoidally stimulated bundle for the distortion frequencies at which movements are induced by the nonlinearity imposed by channel gating. The model of the fluid-structure interactions described here provides insight into the key step in the perception of sound and the method presented provides an efficient and reliable approach to fluid-structure interaction problems at small amplitudes. / Bei der Hörwahrnehmung eines Klangs spielen viele komplexe Prozesse zusammen. Der Schlüsselprozess, die Umwandlung mechanischer Schwingungsbewegung in elektrische Signale, findet in den Haarbündeln im Innenohr statt. Diese Haarbündel sind hoch entwickelte mechanosensitive Organellen, bestehend aus vielen nahe beieinander stehenden Stereozilien umgeben von Flüssigkeit. Die beträchtliche Viskosität dieser Flüssigkeit führt zur Energiedissipation und zur Schwingungsdämpfung, was im Gegensatz zur bekannten hohen Empfindlichkeit und der ausgezeichneten Frequenzselektivität der Hörwahrnehmung steht. Um die Komponenten des Haarbündelsystems in ihrem funktionalen Zusammenspiel besser zu verstehen, bedarf es eines wirklichkeitsgetreuen Modells unter Einbeziehung der Wechselwirkung zwischen Flüssigkeit und Struktur. Mit dieser Arbeit wird ein neuer Ansatz vorgestellt, um die Mechanik der Fluid-Struktur-Wechselwirkung im Innenohr zu analysieren. Da die Bewegungen bei der normalen Mechanotransduktion wesentlich kleiner als die geometrischen Abmessungen sind, ist es möglich, das Verhalten von Fluid und Struktur in Form der Verschiebungsvariable in einem linearen einheitlichen System von Gleichungen ausreichend genau zu beschreiben. Dieses System von partiellen Differentialgleichungen wird mit der Finite-Elemente-Methode gelöst. Basierend auf experimentell ermittelten Daten vom Haarbündel des Ochsenfrosches wird ein detailliertes Modell erstellt, welches sowohl die Interaktion mit der umgebenden Flüssigkeit als auch die koppelnde Flüssigkeit in den engen Spalten zwischen den einzelnen Stereozilien erfasst. Die experimentellen Daten sind Ergebnisse von hochauflösenden interferometrischen Messungen bei physiologisch relevanten Bewegungsamplituden im Bereich von unter einem Nanometer bis zu mehreren Dutzend Nanometern, sowie über einen breiten Frequenzbereich von einem Millihertz bis hundert Kilohertz. Das Modell erlaubt die Berechnung der auftretenden viskosen Widerstände aus der numerischen Analyse der verschiedenen beobachteten Bewegungsmoden. Es kann gezeigt werden, dass durch die Gruppierung zu einem Bündel der Gesamtwiderstand drastisch reduziert ist, im Vergleich zur Summe der Widerstände einzelner Stereozilien, die sich individuell und unabhängig voneinander bewegen. Die einzelnen Stereozilien in einem Haarbündel sind durch elastische Strukturen mechanisch miteinander verbunden: Die Energie des Schalls wird durch schräg angeordnete sogenannte Tiplinks auf die mechanotransduktiven Kanäle übertragen, wohingegen horizontale Querverbindungen die Stereozilien direkt koppeln. Während der Haarbündelauslenkung verursachen die Tiplinks zusätzlichen Widerstand durch stark dissipative Relativbewegungen zwischen den Stereozilien. Die horizontalen Querverbindungen unterdrücken diese Bewegungen und sind dafür verantwortlich, dass sich das Haarbündel als Einheit bewegt und der Gesamtwiderstand gering bleibt. Die Steifigkeit der Stereozilien und der Verbindungselemente sowie deren Geometrie sind in dem Modell sorgfältig angepasst, um eine Übereinstimmung mit den Beobachtungen aus verschiedenen Experimenten zu erzielen. Als Referenz dienen Steifigkeits- und Widerstandsmessungen, sowie Kohärenzmessungen für die gegenüberliegenden Außenkanten des Bündels, die jeweils mit und ohne Tiplinks durchgeführt wurden. Darüberhinaus sind die Ergebnisse durch den Vergleich mit experimentell beobachteten Relativbewegungen validiert, die das Haarbündel infolge von sinusförmiger Anregung bei Distorsionsfrequenzen zeigt. Diese haben ihren Ursprung in dem nichtlinearen Prozess des öffnens von Ionenkanälen. Das entwickelte Modell eines Haarbündels liefert neue Einblicke in den Schlüsselprozess der auditiven Wahrnehmung. Zur Behandlung von Problemen der Fluid-Struktur-Wechselwirkungen bei kleinen Amplituden hat sich der hier ausgearbeitete Ansatz als effizient und zuverlässig erwiesen.

The Phd thesis titled Boundaries of the labyrinth and subtitled Literary space in the Italian postmodern novels strives for specification and closer definition of the genre of post-modern novel through the analysis of literary space. Formally, the thesis is divided into three parts. The first part aims to provide a theoretical introduction into the problems of three areas related to the given topic, namely the definition of postmodernity and postmodernism, the genre of the novel itself and last but not least the study of space in literature. The content of the second part is the actual literary and scientific analysis of the selected novels (Città invisibili and Se una notte d'inverno un viaggiatore by Italo Calvino, Notturno indiano by Antonio Tabucchi, Comici spaventati guerrieri by Stefano Benni and Oceano mare and City by Alessandro Baricco) which follows three basic and most frequent spacial topoi occurring in these novels, namely the topos of the city, the house-hotel and the road. The third and final section sums up the observed aspects and characteristics and strives to use them as a basis for determining a certain and generalizing spacial and temporal principle which would facilitate at least a partial characterization of the postmodern novel as an independent genre.

L’étude que nous avons consacrée à la Antología poética 1923-1977 permet de mettre en lumière l’art poétique de Jorge Luis Borges ainsi que d’observer attentivement la dimension spéculaire et la portée universelle de sa poésie. Elle condense, reflète, et nous fait appréhender l’essence du monde dans toute la gamme de ses infinies richesses ainsi que de ses insondables mystères qui hantent la réflexion métaphysique de l’humanité depuis des temps immémoriaux. Nous dégageons, tout particulièrement, nombre de convergences des plus frappantes entre les principaux thèmes borgésiens et les thèses majeures du philosophe Arthur Schopenhauer. Borges emploie, à l’évidence, tout son génie, tout son art de la perplexité et de l’ironie, à façonner subtilement un miroir poétique de la pensée de ce grand maître qu’il vénère tant. Nous constatons, en effet, que la poésie borgésienne, non seulement nous fait prendre conscience de notre perpétuelle et irrémédiable condamnation aux illusions et aux représentations, mais encore tente de relever le défi du dépassement des illusions, d’un accès à un au-delà de la représentation. Sous de multiples aspects kaléidoscopiques de l’Autre (un sablier, un jardin, une bibliothèque, un château, un rêve, la pensée humaine, l’individu, l’écriture, le temps…), c’est en réalité toujours le mythe de l’Eternel Retour du Labyrinthe qui revient sous sa plume. Comment ce mythe ― à la fois personnel et impersonnel ― que Borges a patiemment forgé, tout au long de sa vie, a-t-il pu connaître une remarquable diffusion planétaire et le conduire à être couronné par la gloire de son vivant ? Telle est l’ultime question à laquelle nous tâchons de répondre au terme de notre réflexion. / The study that we dedicated to the Antología Poética 1923-1977 allows to bring out the poetical art of Jorge Luis Borges as well as to observe in a careful way the speculiar dimension and the universal scope of his poetry. It condenses, reflects and enables us to apprehend the essence of the world in the whole range of infinite riches, as well as the unfathomable mysteries which have haunted the metaphysical reflexion of humanity from time immemorial. We bring out, in particular, a fair number of the most striking convergences between the main themes of Borges the poet and the major thesis of Arthur Schopenhauer the philosopher. It is obvious that Borges uses all his genius, all his art of perplexity and irony to shape, in a subtle way, a poetical mirror of the thinking of this great master that he venerates so much. Not only do we notice that the poetry of Borges enables us to be aware of our perpetual and irreparable condemnation to illusions and representations, but it also tries to take up the challenge of surpassing the illusions, of an access to the beyond of representation. Under numerous kaleidoscopic aspects of the Other (a sandglass, a garden, a library, a castle, a dream, the human thought, the individual, writing, time…), in fact it is always the myth of the Eternal Return of the Labyrinth which comes back under his pen. How can this myth – both personal and impersonal – (patiently forged by Borges all along his life) have met such a remarkable worldwide diffusion and have led him to be crowned by glory in his lifetime? This is the final question we will try to carry through.

Laberinto is a type of book-form game, invented by Andrea Ghisi, and first printed in 1607. A second version was printed in 1616 and includes all the characters of the so-called tarocchi of Mantegna, with the addition of a new series of ten cards (following the logic of composition of the tarocchi). Another two versions of Laberinto (printed in 1607 and 1610) contain none of the Mantegna tarocchi characters. The rules of the game are based on the art of mathematical combinations. The aim of the game is to move through a visual labyrinth and discover which figure the opponent has in mind. The focus of this work will be on the 1616 version; my intention is to describe the problematic of the repetition of the original game concept a century and a half later, examining the conditions under which players used the allegorical field of the so-called Mantegna Tarocchi, and under which the cosmological meaning was secularized and the new series of ten cards added.

Notre travail s'inscrit dans une perspective d'histoire de la littérature et cherche à conduire une réflexion globale sur la nature, la signification et la portée de l’utilisation de l’apocryphe chez l'écrivain espagnol Max Aub (Paris, 1903, Mexico, 1972). Le procédé sous-tend l'ambitieux projet de "El Laberinto Mágico" _Le Labyrinthe Magique ̶, qui regroupe les œuvres consacrées à la guerre civile espagnole. Max Aub rompt avec une première pratique expérimentale de la littérature pour se focaliser désormais sur le jeu d’un personnage résolument plongé dans l’Histoire, et la création du personnage apocryphe prend chez l'auteur une valeur de témoignage existentiel, qui dépasse la dimension ludique du mélange entre fiction et réalité. Dans un siècle caractérisé par les guerres et la violence, chez un auteur profondément marqué par la guerre civile espagnole et la douloureuse expérience du déracinement, le personnage apocryphe renvoie aussi à la question identitaire, autant qu’à l’expérience de l’altérité et à l’exploration d’autres possibles itinéraires existentiels. Cette exploration des limites du genre narratif contribue à la résolution de la « crise du roman » des années vingt, s'inscrit dans une double perspective européenne et nationale, et s'ancre dans l'Histoire au point de donner de celle-ci une vision nouvelle. / This doctoral thesis has benn aproached in a perspective of history of literature, and aims to consider a global thought about the nature, the meaning and the impact of the use of the apocryphal for the Spanish writer Max Aub (Paris, 1903, Mexico City, 1972). The process underpins the ambitious project of "El Laberinto Mágico" ̶The Magic Labyrinth ̶, which groups together the works dedicated to the Spanish Civil War. Max Aub breaks with a first experimental practice of literature to focus from this point onward on the game of a character firmly immersed in History. The creation of the apocryphal character takes for the author a value of existential testimony, which goes beyond the playful dimension of the fiction and reality mix. In a century characterized by wars and violence, in an author deeply marked by the Spanish Civil War and the painful uprooting experience, the apocryphal character also goes back to the question of identity, as well as the otherness experience , and the exploration of the other possible existential paths. This exploration of the limits of the narrative genre contributes to the resolution of the "crisis of the novel" in the twenties, it is also part of a double perspective, national and European, and is anchored in History, to the point where it gives of it a new vision.

My dissertation thesis seeks to explore some specific social aspects of the dialogue between traditional Chinese art and thinking and Czech art scene after the February1948, when the Communist party took power in former Czechoslovakia. I am mainly interested in the problematic of inspiration from traditional Chinese calligraphy and Daoist philosophy on Czech painting, visual poetry and literature in the 1950s and 1960s. I will argue that the appropriation of selected Chinese philosophical and artistic themes helped Czech artists, working under the communist repression, to express their innermost human emotions in relation to home, culture, freedom, and one's artistic and human destiny. The communist regime meant to many artists the end of their official artistic career. Life in seclusion outside the main political and social streams became for some of them an opportunity to display pent-up feelings of affinity with the life stories of the ancient Daoist thinkers. In this context, focus is primarily placed on an analysis of several distinctive visual and literary works by Czech leading artists of the period, especially on the selected works by the visual artists Emil Filla, Jiří Kolář, Vladimír Boudník, Jan Kotík or Zdeněk Sklenář and the novelist Bohumil Hrabal (1914 - 1997) and his world famous...

Följande examensarbete ämnar undersöka och förmedla en djupare bild av kvinnliga ledares upplevelse av att leda i den svenska bygg- och anläggningsbranschen. Uppsatsen är en kvalitativ studie där åtta kvinnliga ledare djup-intervjuats om deras personliga upplevelser gällande de utmaningar som de navigerat sig genom under sitt avancemang i arbetslivet. Dessa utmaningar är i denna studie uppdelade i fem kategorier för att skapa en tydlighet för läsaren genom uppsatsen. Syftet är att generera en större förståelse för de utmaningar som kvinnliga ledare förhåller sig till, vilket i sin tur kan bidra till att utvecklingen går framåt inom branschen. Samt att undersöka om tidigare forskning kring de metaforer som används för att beskriva dessa utmaningar går att tillämpa på kvinnornas upplevelser av bygg- och anläggningsbranschen. Urvalet till studien omfattar åtta kvinnliga ledare med befattningar som platschef och arbetsledare, där majoriteten av den grupp som de leder består av män. Resultatet av studien visade att tidigare forskning gällande teorin om glaslabyrinten passar in på upplevelserna kvinnorna hade från sina karriärsliv, och andra föregående metaforer anses mindre relevanta i sammanhanget. Inledningsvis uttryckte flertalet av intervjupersonerna att de inte upplevde några svårigheter att leda i branschen. Under intervjuerna uppdagades dock flera faktorer som kvinnorna tidigare inte upplevt som utmaningar, men som författarna till studien tolkar som svårigheter de fått förhålla sig till. Detta uppfattar författarna till uppsatsen vara en del av en copingstrategi för att hantera den rådande kulturen och således bli accepterad och respekterad av sina medarbetare. Dock framkom det i studien att den svenska bygg- och anläggningsbranschen på senare tid haft en positiv utveckling, men för att ytterligare förbättringar ska kunna genomföras behöver dessa utmaningar fortsätta att uppmärksammas i samhället. / This thesis aims to investigate and convey a deeper picture of female leaders' experience of leading in the Swedish construction industry. The essay is a qualitative study in which eight female leaders were interviewed in depth about their personal experiences regarding the challenges they navigated around during their advancement in working life. These challenges are in this study divided into five categories to create clarity for the reader through the essay. The aim is to generate a greater understanding of the challenges that female leaders face, which in turn can contribute to progress in the industry. As well as investigating whether previous research on the metaphors used to describe these challenges can be applied to women's experiences of the construction industry. The sample for the study includes eight female leaders with positions such as site manager and supervisor where the majority of the group they lead consists of men. The results of the study showed that previous research regarding the theory of the glass labyrinth fits the experiences the women had from their career lives and other preceding metaphors are considered less relevant in the context. Initially, the majority of the interviewees expressed that they did not experience any difficulties in leading in the industry. During the interviews, however, several factors were discovered that the women previously did not experience as challenges, but which the authors of the study interpret as difficulties they had to deal with. The authors perceive this to be part of a coping strategy to deal with the prevailing culture and thus be accepted and respected by their employees. However, it emerged in the study that the Swedish construction industry has recently had a positive development, but in order for further improvements to be implemented, these challenges need to continue to be noticed in society.

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This dissertation investigates the literary and cinematic use of the child’s perspective to present the Mexican Revolution and the Spanish Civil War and their aftermath in several Mexican, Spanish, and international (Mexican-Spanish collaborative) narratives of the 20th and early 21st Centuries written by adult authors and filmmakers, and targeted for adult audiences. The Mexican narratives are Cartucho and Las manos de mamá by Nellie Campobello, Balún Canán by Rosario Castellanos, and Bandidos, a film by Luis Estrada; selected Spanish works are El espíritu de la colmena by Víctor Erice, Cría cuervos by Carlos Saura, and El sur by Adelaida García Morales; and both international works are films by Guillermo del Toro, El espinazo del diablo and El laberinto del fauno. I attempt to determine the textual or cinematic function of the child as first person (homodiegetic) narrative viewer in these works, and I study the different ways in which this child’s point of view is constructed in order to depict the overwhelming tragedy of war. I note patterns and diversities in subject matter presented by the narrative voice, and observe the characteristics of the child narrative viewer’s world and priorities (as presented by the authors and filmmakers), paying careful attention to how each perceives and understands his or her country’s violent upheaval and its aftermath. The theoretical framework of this investigation draws mainly from trauma theory, Gothic studies, and the tradition of the fairy tale. I illustrate how within the war narrative in addition to the author’s/filmmaker’s desire to recreate the sentiment that a child would evoke in adult readers and viewers, the child narrative viewer is employed for three main reasons: to play upon or against preexisting notions of the child’s innocence; to represent (possibly subversively) the nation; and as therapeutic means of returning to a paradise lost or creating a paradise never experienced. / text

Master of Visual Arts / This Dissertation explores the metaphor of Ariadne’s thread in terms of interconnection, when an element from the everyday is used as a locus linking broader concepts of time and space. Such experiences and associations are reflected in the work of Louise Bourgeois, Eva Hesse, Doris Salcedo, Lucio Fontana, Richard Tuttle, Mona Hatoum, Simone Mangos, Anya Gallaccio and Yoshihiro Suda. In relation to my own work, the metaphor of interconnecting thread allows a sense of freedom and journey of discovery. My studio and related research are closely aligned in developing my understanding of interconnection, through my studio process of making and continuing experiences of looking at and interpreting others artists’ work.