published_or_final_version / Speech and Hearing Sciences / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

The thesis discusses the social phenomenon of fitness and exercise in the fitness centers. It contains descriptive and comparative research of visitors fitness centers in Prague and Frankfurt am Main as representatives of this new phenomenon. It is a group of visitors who visit the fitness center at their leisure time. Research on the theoretical basis Bourdie's concept of habitus, social space and capital is trying to detect and describe patterns and main motivations of visitors fitness centers and their potential differences or similarities on the international basis.

This thesis presents an introduction to the three main fields that study time: physics, philosophy, and logics. A brief introduction to general relativity, thermodynamics and quantum physics is made. Also some of the basic ideas from the philosophy of time are explained and dualities connected to time are described, e.g. eternalism vs. presentism, determinism vs. indeterminism and the reality or unreality of time. As there is a huge number of temporal logics, only the main ideas that differentiate these logics from others are pointed out and some typical proofs are then shown. Special attention is then given to the relation between logics and physics, how the first can be used in the latter. Thereafter, Branching space-times and Branching continuation models are presented, which proved to be useful within quantum physics. Next, some basic terminology connected to general relativity and the A, P and T topologies are introduced . These are used together with the given models to investigate a possible combination.

A discrete formalism for General Relativity was introduced in 1961 by Tulio Regge in the form of a piecewise-linear manifold as an approximation to (pseudo-)Riemannian manifolds. This formalism, known as Regge Calculus, has primarily been used to study vacuum spacetimes as both an approximation for classical General Relativity and as a framework for quantum gravity. However, there has been no consistent effort to include arbitrary non-gravitational sources into Regge Calculus or examine the structural details of how this is done. This manuscript explores the underlying framework of Regge Calculus in an effort elucidate the structural properties of the lattice geometry most useful for incorporating particles and fields. Correspondingly, we first derive the contracted Bianchi identity as a guide towards understanding how particles and fields can be coupled to the lattice so as to automatically ensure conservation of source. In doing so, we derive a Kirchhoff-like conservation principle that identifies the flow of energy and momentum as a flux through the circumcentric dual boundaries. This circuit construction arises naturally from the topological structure suggested by the contracted Bianchi identity. Using the results of the contracted Bianchi identity we explore the generic properties of the local topology in Regge Calculus for arbitrary triangulations and suggest a first-principles definition that is consistent with the inclusion of source. This prescription for extending vacuum Regge Calculus is sufficiently general to be applicable to other approaches to discrete quantum gravity. We discuss how these findings bear on a quantized theory of gravity in which the coupling to source provides a physical interpretation for the approximate invariance principles of the discrete theory. / by Jonathan Ryan McDonald. / Vita. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2009. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2009. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Michel Foucault indique que l’histoire, ou la temporalité, est le thème qui a obsédé le 19e siècle, et que l’époque actuelle serait l’époque de l’espace. C’est une époque qui passe de temps à l’espace. Cependant, l'espace n’est pas un concept abstrait de la spéculation, il se présente toujours auparavant comme un élément du monde de l'expérience perceptive. Cet enracinement dans l’expérience perceptive quotidienne (celle du corps placé dans un environnement, dans un habitat, dans un champ social, etc.) peut paraître incompatible avec le but de la métaphysique qui souvent interroge la structure ultime de l’univers, la cause première du monde, etc. La notion métaphysique d’espace a incorporé des ingrédients empiriques : c’est l’expérience perceptive, l’expérience du corps propre s’orientant dans le monde, habitant le monde, désertant le monde, délaissé etc. qui en définitive détermine la spéculation métaphysique. Cette exploration renouvelée de la spatialité a également modifié le stéréotype de la métaphysique traditionnelle. Du point de vue de la pratique humaine, l'espace est la condition nécessaire pour permettre une liberté individuelle et une coexistence avec autrui dans la société. Au cours de la comparaison des conceptualités en philosophie française et en philosophie chinoise, nous examinerons les significations métaphysiques de l’espace dans les cadres d’ontologie, d’épistémologie et de la théorie de valeur. / Michel Foucault argues that the history or more precisely, the time is the theme that has obsessed in the 19th century. According to Michel Foucault, this is the age of space. However, the space is not an abstract concept of speculation; it is always an element of the world from perceptual experience. Its roots in daily experience such as the space of body placed in an environment, in a habitat, in the social field, etc., may be incompatible with the object and purpose of the metaphysics which often questions the ultimate structure of the universe, the first cause in the world, etc. The concept of metaphysics of space incorporates the ingredients empirical: perceptual experience and the empirical experience of body living in the world which ultimately determines the metaphysical speculation. That is to say, the new exploration of space has also changed the stereotype of traditional metaphysics. From the view of human practice, space is the necessary condition to enable individual freedom and coexistence with others in the society. In the comparison of the conception in both French philosophy and Chinese philosophy, we will examine the metaphysical meanings of space not only ontological, but also in the field of epistemology and the theory of value.

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Exploring spatio-temporal flux within architecture, this thesis presents design-based research on the temporal environments of Oceania and Western evental theory. Oceanic thought and Western theories of the event share commonalities, both holding that space and time are inseparable dimensions. This spatio-temporal concept challenges Western philosophical and architectural doxa that privilege stasis over temporal flux, and offers a mode by which to introduce alterity into architectural discourse. I move over these cultural and philosophical grounds in order to explicate and further develop a personal design practice that is of this place and time for, while there is a body of writing that documents Oceanic built environments, there is less research that considers how these may be constituted and communicated through contemporary architectural design. The thesis posits two temporalised environments apparent within Oceanic spatial thought and practice – the shifting and extensive oceanscape, and the telluric groundscape that makes space; and describes two resultant spatial typologies – an oceanspace which is characterised by openness and mobility, and a groundspace which is both surface and space. These contentions are tested and theorised through three architectural experiments developed between 1999 and 2005: the Sounds House, which operates as an open and mutable spatial field; the Ground House, which forms monumental “interiors” that emerge from and relate to the earth; and Tokatea, which blends these two spatialities, fabricating a temporalised environment in between the momentary and the monumental, between interior and exterior. In presenting and discussing these speculative spaces, this thesis moves between architecture and academia, Oceania and the West, the ephemeral and the enduring, and the inside and the outside, with the aim of destabilising architecture’s discursive ground, causing its hermetic boundaries to become temporalised and fluid.

This thesis analyzes the direction of time problem in the framework of philosophy of science. The radiation arrow, Newtonian arrow, thermodynamical arrow and quantum mechanical arrow have been studied in detail. The importance of the structure of space-time concerning direction of time is emphasized.

This thesis is a comparison of the philosophical systems of Zen Buddhism, which is an Eastern Philosophy, with Ludwig Wittgenstein&rsquo / s philosophical studies, who is an extraordinary name of the Western Philosophy in the 20th century. The history and sources of Zen Buddhism were given with its adoption in the use of language and arts. Besides, this study exemplifies the philosophy of Zen Buddhism with the examples from the life story of Wittgenstein. The thesis is written with a full awareness of the sensitivity of comparing different systems which always embody counterexamples and speculations. This is the reason why speculative ideas and resources were deliberately ignored. The aim is to contribute the cultural life of Turkey by taking such a subject to the academic milieu. Moreover, Turkey is the passage of the East and the West both geographically and culturally. There are resemblances between Zen and Wittgenstein by means of method and the useof language. Furthermore, it was given the names of the books that Wittgenstein read and the philosophers who influenced Wittgenstein. The parallels between Zen and Wittgenstein are justified.

Originally presented as the author's Thesis (doctoral)--Universität Heidelberg, 1983. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 187-208).