My engagement with making is a metaphor that contains the interior landscapes of my mind. I continue to explore it by comparing and contrasting exterior and interior, investigating surface and depth, covering and exposing, and taking apart and putting together. I work to translate my individual experiences and emotions into a tangible form. The visual dialogues that I engage in with my work explore a range of aspects that are inherent and specific to my Japanese cultural heritage. It often springs from my daily encounters with the subtle nuances and observable oddities of living in the “West”. These experiences have added to my self-awareness, and my sense of identity. I’ve always been fascinated by the visual phenomenon that occurs when light is transmitted, reflected, and/or refracted on/in/and through glass materials. I integrate these observable optical phenomena into personal narratives; by using “the-perceptional-shifts” that only the quality of glass it-self can generate, I transform my emotions into concrete materiality. The body of work that has developed over the past two years focuses on integrating my experiences, emotions and feelings, distance and time, and memories of and longing for my twin sister. I marry new technology with old, and attempting to bring the sensitivity of craft to new methods of making. Embedded in this work is my passion for life, materials, and making.

In the first part of this thesis, we study the duality of Wilson loops and M2-branes in AdS₄/CFT₃. We focus on supersymmetric M-theory solutions on AdS₄xY₇ that have a superconformal dual description on S³ = ?AdS⁴. We will find that the Hamiltonian function h_M for the M-theory circle plays an important role in the duality. We show that an M2-brane wrapping the M-theory circle is supersymmetric precisely at the critical points of h_M, and moreover the value of this function at those points determines the M2-brane actions. Such a configuration determines the holographic dual of a Wilson loop for a Hopf circle in S³. We find agreement in large classes of examples between the Wilson loop and its dual M2-brane and also that the image h_M(Y₇) determines the range of support of the eigenvalues in the dual large N matrix model, with the critical points of h_M mapping to points where the derivative of the eigenvalue density is discontinuous. We will then move away from the three-sphere and construct gravity duals to a broad class of N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories defined on a general class of three-manifold geometries. The gravity backgrounds are based on Euclidean self-dual solutions to four-dimensional gauged supergravity. As well as constructing new examples, we prove in general that for solutions defined on the four-ball the gravitational free energy depends only on the supersymmetric Killing vector. Our result agrees with the large N limit of the free energy of the dual gauge theory, computed using localisation. This constitutes an exact check of the gauge/gravity correspondence for a very broad class of gauge theories defined on a general class of background three-manifold geometries. To further verify that our gravitational backgrounds are indeed dual to field theories on their boundaries, we compute Wilson loops and their M2-brane duals in this general setting. We find that the Wilson loop is given by a simple closed formula which depends on the background geometry only through the supersymmetric Killing vector field. The supergravity dual M2-brane precisely reproduces this large N field theory result. This constitutes a further check of AdS₄/CFT₃ for a very broad class of examples.

La France est l'un des Etats qui a fait le choix de bâtir le pouvoir juridictionnel sur le partage de compétence entre deux ordres, l'ordre judiciaire et l'ordre administratif. Le principe de la dualité juridictionnelle découle de la summa divisio du système juridique français. Institué par la constitution de la deuxième République, très bien ancré dans le système juridique français et n'a jamais été remis en cause depuis. Il se veut en effet le garant contre l'arbitraire de l'Exécutif. Un principe sacro-saint qui a toujours gouverné le contentieux des étrangers et que le l'ancien Président de la République a nommément pointé du doigt lors de sa conférence de presse le 8 Janvier 2008 comme le principal responsable de l'engorgement des contentieux étrangers en le qualifiant de « bizarrerie française ». L'objectif de la présente thèse consiste à mettre toute la lumière sur les arcanes de la dualité juridictionnelle dans le contentieux des étrangers en France, puis étudier la possibilité d'une éventuelle unification des juridictions comme solution de substitution aux fins d'y remédier à cet engorgement ? / France is one of the states that chose to build the judicial power of the division of jurisdiction between two orders, the judiciary and the administrative order. The legal principle of duality, flows from the” summa division” of the French legal system. Established by the constitution of the Second Republic, well rooted in the French legal system and has never been questioned since. He wants, in fact, to be the guarantor against arbitrary action by the executive. A sacrosanct principle that has always governed the foreign nationals and that the former President of the Republic, namely pointed at its press conference of January 8, 2008 as the main cause of congestion in foreign litigation calling it a "quirk French." The objective of this thesis is to shed light on the mysteries of the jurisdictional duality in the foreign nationals in France, then consider a possible unification of the courts as an alternative to remedy to this congestion?

Title: Dependency of market value of a team on the result achieved at the Synot liga Objectives: The aim of this work is to determine the departmente of the market value of the teams which take place in the Czech Top Football league and their achieved results in this competition. Market value of the team is given by a sum of market value of all its players, regardless of their taking part in the match or not. It's put into the kontext with the final result in the league, which is expressed by a total sum of the gauner points. The partial aim is to determine effectiveness of these teams (expressed by total market value of the team) and the total sum of the points achieved in the competition Methods: Regressive and correlative analysis was used for determination of the dependence in the practical part of my research. Regressive analysis was taken from the assumption of free dependence. In this case the aim was to identify the degree of its intensity. So this is the way how the assumption that total market value of the team has certain influence on the achieved result in the league was checked. Results: In the results you can see characteristic and may be big influence of the market value of the team on the achieved result in the league. The value of correlative coefficient for the previous 9 sport...

Topology studies the geometric properties of spaces that are preserved by continuous deformations. Manifolds are the main examples of topological spaces, with the local properties of Euclidean space in an arbitrary dimension n. They are the higher dimensional analogs of curves and surfaces. For example a circle is a one-dimensional manifold. Balloons and doughnuts are examples of two-dimensional manifolds. A balloon cannot be deformed continuously into a doughnut, so we see that there are essential topological differences between them. An "invariant" of a topological space is a number or an algebraic structure such that topologically equivalent spaces have the same invariant. For example the essential topological difference between the balloon and the doughnut is calculated by the "Euler characteristic", which is 2 for a balloon and 0 for a doughnut. In this thesis I investigate the relation between three different but related invariants of manifolds with dimension divisible by 4: the signature, the Brown-Kervaire invariant and the Arf invariant. The signature invariant takes values in the set (...;-3;-2;-1; 0; 1; 2; 3; ...) of integers. In this thesis we focus on the signature invariant modulo 8, that is its remainder after division by 8. The Brown-Kervaire invariant takes values in the set (0; 1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 6; 7). The Arf invariant takes values in the set (0; 1). The main result of the thesis uses the Brown-Kervaire invariant to prove that for a manifold with signature divisible by 4, the divisibility by 8 is decided by the Arf invariant. The thesis is entirely concerned with pure mathematics. However it is possible that it may have applications in mathematical physics, where the signature modulo 8 plays a significant role.

Notre étude répond a l'intitulé « La Dialectique ombre et lumière dans la poésie de Baudelaire et Senghor ». Elle s'attache à décrire la sémantique de ces deux métaphores de la condition humaine dans les œuvres de nos auteurs, sous l'autorité méthodologique de la stylistique de Spitzer et de la thématique richardienne. De fait, bien plus qu'un simple ornement, ombre et lumière traduisent au mieux leur pensée et décrivent la structure des œuvres. Ainsi, sont-elles une matrice génératrice d'une esthétique, d'une philosophie, et d'une religion parfois dissonante. Opportunément, le travail tente de mettre en lumière l'apport de Baudelaire dans la poésie senghorienne. Il établit que, contrairement à ce que certains critiques ont écrit, et à ce que Senghor à laisser entendre, sa poésie n'est pas influencée par celle du poète français. Ce dernier agit plutôt comme un révélateur, en lui faisant prendre conscience de la beauté de l'Afrique et de la femme noire, leur véritable point de rencontre / Our study answers to the title "The Dialectic shadow and light in Baudelaire and Senghor poetry". It strives to describe semantics of these two metaphors of the human condition in the work of our authors, under the methodological authority from Spitzer stylistics and from Richardřs themathic. Ac-tually, more than a simple ornament, a shadow and a light translate at best as possible their thought and describe the structure of the work. So, they are a generative matrix of aesthetics, a philosophy, and a sometimes dissonant religion. Conveniently, the work tries to highlight Baudelaire contribution in the Senghor poetry. It establishes that, in opposition to what some critics wrote, and in what Senghor let understand, his poetry is not influenced by that of the French poet. This last one acts rather as a revelation, by making him become aware of the beauty of Africa and black woman, their real meeting point

The motif of twins is one that permeates strongly throughout the Harry Potter series. Fred and George as a pair are immensely popular with fans, and the “very curious” twinship of Harry and Voldemort’s wands is a relationship greatly explored in the saga. In my paper, I shall further explore this prominent Potter motif and delve into the origins and symbolism behind this twinship. I will also recall the dark conclusion to the tale of the Weasley twins. The death of Fred as related to the series’ theme as a whole and the death of Harry in the attempt to remove his parasitic twin, Voldemort’s unintended horcrux, will be discussed. There will also be exploration of missing and broken twins, for example, where is Romulus since we know a Remus? Why are Padma and Parvati in different houses? What is the symbolism of Harry’s broken wand? I will discuss how Voldemort’s creation of horcruxes is an intentional twinning of his self, and thus a mutation of nature. An exploration of numerology in relation to this twin discussion will also be included. This paper will show that the motif of twins is not just an interesting addition to the Potter novels but rather a tie-in to the story’s core of insisting on duality when the truth is in wholeness.

Betweenness is a project questioning the relation between us and what we surround us with. To reveal our assumptions around artifacts and by doing so create an conversation between us viewers/ users and the objects themselves. Who owns the dialogue: the object or the viewer? Taking a deeper dive into the symbols and languages of objects, the quiet voices they posses and the functions surfaces, the visualization circle around words such as visual function, ornamentation,  material displacement and attraction.  By trying to convey the objects “inner thoughts” and creating a dialogue it pushes our ideas of what is desirable, what is strange, what is useful or even beautiful. The trick is in the contrast between what we see and what we know, bordering into imaginary, creating voices for ambiguous objects.

O presente estudo intenciona relacionar a obra literária Amor insensato do escritor japonês Junichir Tanizaki com o corpo bibliográfico utilizado da psicanálise e história. O enredo da obra de Tanizaki apresenta caráter confessional e narra a vida conjugal das personagens Jji e Naomi. Em determinados aspectos, tal relação se apresenta como uma representação da interação que se deu entre o país Japão e países culturalmente colonizadores pertencentes ao hemisfério ocidental, e aponta as noções assimiladas do Oriente como cultura pouco civilizada e por isso mesmo, incapaz de falar por si mesma em contraste a um Ocidente eleito como superior, moderno e correto em seus saberes tidos como ciências irrevogáveis. É possível observar também na obra um conjunto de dualidades presentes nas características de Jji e Naomi, assim como em suas intenções, sentimentos, emoções e escolhas. Busca-se um maior entendimento da obra através da análise do conceito de dualidade presente nas influências taoístas e budistas na cultura japonesa que em muito se diferem do conceito cristão estabelecido no Ocidente de polarização e antítese de pares como bem e mal, masculino e feminino e positivo e negativo. O conjunto de relações que se dá como a manifestação do eu com o outro propicia um rico campo de discussão interdisciplinar e constitui o cerne da socialização do homem que acaba não se realizando apenas como encontro, mas também através de diversas formas de superposicionamento em uma massa de conflitos e intolerâncias historicamente renovados em diferentes espaços e culturas. A narrativa de Tanizaki contempla a insensatez da relação de um eu ferido com um outro que é seu espelho. Aborda o profundo desafeto, a melancolia e a solidão do indivíduo inserido em uma sociedade que busca modernizar-se aceleradamente como reflexo do Ocidente. / This study intends to relate the psychoanalysis and history bibliographic corpus with the literary work of the Japanese writer Junichir Tanizaki, entitled Amor insensato. Tanizakis literary works plot presentes confessional features and narrates the characters Jji and Naomis marital life. Under certain aspects, this relationship takes place as a representation of interactions that occurred between Japan and Eastern cultures colonizing countries belonging to the Western hemisphere, as well as notions assimilated by Eastern cultures of them as uncivilized and therefore, unable to speak for themselves in contrast to an elected West showed as superior and modern, absolutely correct about its knowledge and sciences once regarded as irrevocable ones. It is also possible to notice in the plot a set of dualities into Jji and Naomis characteristics, as well as into their intentions, feelings, emotions and choices. Through the analysis of dualitys conception present in Taoist and Buddhist influences that took place in Japanese culture and is quite diferente from the Western Christian concept of pairspolarization and antithesis such as good and evil, male and female, positive and negative, etc. it aims a deeper comprehension of the book. The set of relations that takes place as the manifestation of \"Self\" with the \"Other\" provides a wide field of interdisciplinary discussion and composes the core of men socialization which does not happen only as a meeting, but also as a mass of many forms of super positioning conflicts and intolerance historically renovated in different spaces and cultures. Tanizaki´s narrative includes the insensate relationship between a hurt Self with an other one who is just his mirror. It approaches a deep disaffection, melancholy and solitude of an individual inserted in a society that looked for fast modernization as Wests reflection.

Uma folheação Riemanniana singular em M, variedade Riemanniana completa, é uma folheação singular tal que as folhas são localmente equidistantes. Existe uma folheação singular, chamada de folheação dual a folheação Riemanniana dada, cuja folha passando por p é o conjunto dos pontos em M que são alcançados por alguma geodésica horizontal quebrada partindo de p. Se M possui curvatura seccional positiva, então a folheação dual possui apenas uma folha. Se a curvatura seccional de M é não-negativa e M não coincidi com alguma folha dual, então o fibrado normal de qualquer geodésica horizontal quebrada é gerado por uma família de campos de Jacobi paralelos. Ambos os resultados são conhecidos com Teorema de Dualização. Uma aplicação destes resultados é a prova da suavidade da projeção métrica na alma. Todos estes resultados são devidos a Wilking. O objetivo desta dissertação de mestrado é discutir tais resultados de Wilking, baseado no trabalho do mesmo e em uma abordagem feita por Gromoll e Walschap. / Let M be a Riemanniana manifold with nonnegative sectional curvature. A singular Riemannian foliation in M is a singular foliation with locally equidistant leaves. The dual leaf though p is the collection of the all points q in M such that p and q are connected with a piece-wise horizontal geodesic. The partition of M into the dual leaves is a singular foliation called dual foliation. Wilking proved that if the sectional curveture is positive, then the dual foliation consists of a single leaf. In other words, any two points in M can be connected with a piece-wise horizontal geodesic. In order to prove this result Wilking showed that, if M is nonnegatively curved, the normal bundle of a dual leaf along a piecewise horizontal geodesic is gerated for parallel Jacobi field. These results are used in the proof that the projection metric in the soul is smoth.