While McCarthy studies have emphasized elements of the sacred in his writing, this thesis adds a new historical perspective and synthesis to reading paradigms of Cormac McCarthy. The Crossing combines the patterns of the ancient pre-Hebraic genre of the desert sublime with the basic formula of the American Western genre to interrogate McCarthy's question of whether in the postmodern moment one can still divest oneself in the desert and find access to the sublime. In an era of an invisible or absent God where post-humanist thought erases the anthropocentric supremacy of human over animal and the earth itself, the one constant in the desert sublime genre is the physical reality of the desert itself. Thus, McCarthy's recourse is to infuse the desert sublime with contemporary ecological thought. In the desert Billy Parham encounters other desert dwellers who share with him shards and traces of belief while Billy also learns bodily from the material experience of his physical sojourn. Billy is a nascent postmodern saint whose journeys into the desert reveal to him the ecotheological principle of the interconnectedness of all things as a natural physical law that undergirds the spiritual truth guiding ethical behavior. Billy arrives at a point of radical transformation that teaches him the necessity of choosing compassion, affiliation, simple service, and humility in a world of interconnected beings and living forms.

京都大学 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(工学) / 甲第24903号 / 工博第5183号 / 新制||工||1989(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院工学研究科分子工学専攻 / (主査)教授 梶 弘典, 教授 関 修平, 教授 寺村 謙太郎 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering) / Kyoto University / DFAM

[pt] Na obra Grande sertão: veredas de Guimarães Rosa, a narração de uma viagem pelo sertão deixa entrever o lugar privilegiado que a noção de travessia ocupa neste romance. A partir da relação entre a filosofia e a literatura, esta travessia literária desdobra-se num problema a ser filosoficamente examinado, pois se por um lado o sertão rosiano não está restrito à realidade regional de um Brasil profundo, por outro lado a viagem que nele se perfaz também ganha outras proporções para além de um simples deslocamento espacial. Assim, a vida de um homem sertanejo toma neste romance proporções universais, demonstrando que viajar pelo sertão é viajar o mundo e que a travessia narrada pelo protagonista Riobaldo desdobra-se numa travessia humana. / [en] In the work The Devil to Pay in the Backlands written by Guimarães Rosa, the narration of a journey through the backlands hints at the privileged place that the notion of travelling occupies in this romance. From the relationship between philosophy and literature, this literary journey unfolds into a problem to be philosophically examined, because if, on the one hand, the Backlands of Rosa are not restricted to the regional reality of a deep Brazil, on the other hand, the journey also gains other proportions beyond a simple spatial displacement. Thus, the life of a Backlands man takes on universal proportions in this novel, demonstrating that travelling through the sertão is travelling the world and that the crossing narrated by the protagonist Riobaldo unfolds in a human journey.

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In September 2014, a new regulation was proposed in Sweden, which indicates aset of rules of giving way under different types of bicycle intersections. Meanwhile,new definitions were endued to bicycle passages and bicycle crossings. After thepriority of cyclists is guaranteed at bicycle crossings, potential delay for motorvehicles in the mainstream should not be ignored as well.Therefore, inspired by the previous study from Movea, this thesis project is goingto focus on unsupervised bicycle passages and bicycle crossings, with the aim ofassessing and inspecting the impacts of different bicycle intersections on vehicledelays.The relationship between delay and flows at bicycle intersections has beenresearched in detail. Initially, an empirical study has been carried out on the basisof data from field measurements. In addition, a microscopic traffic simulationmodel has been constructed for the analysis of theoretical situations. The delay isproved to have a linear relationship with vehicle flow and bicycle flow. However,the linear relationship based on field data turns out to be different from the onefrom simulation output.

For people who suffer from visual impairment, getting around in traffic can be a great struggle. The robot PeCro, short for Pedestrian Crossing, was created as an aid for these people to use at pedestrian crossings equipped with traffic lights. The prototype was constructed in Solid Edge ST9 as a three wheeled mobile robot and consists of several components. The microcontroller, Arduino Uno, was programmed in Arduino IDE. The vision sensor used was a Pixy2 camera that can detect and track selected colour codes. A steering model called differential drive is used. It is controlled through magnetic encoders mounted on the two motor shafts. PeCro scans the environment looking for green light. If detected, PeCro searches for the blue box on the traffic light pillar on the opposite side of the street. When it is detected it crosses the street and turns 180 degrees to enable crossing the street again. The performance of a vision sensor in different light environments, the efficiency of magnetic encoders measuring travelled distance and regulating steering as well as linear interpolation as a distance calculation method, was studied. The results show that the detecting performance of PeCro is affected by the light environment and the maximum distance at which the used colour codes are detected, was 163 cm respective 150 cm. Another result shows that when measuring distance with magnetic encoders, a constant distance deviation from the desired distance occurs. This method is desirable compared to using linear interpolation to measure the distance. In conclusion, to implement and use PeCro in real life situations, further development has to be done. / Människor som lever med synnedsättning kan möta stora hinder när de rör sig i stadstrafik. Roboten PeCro, förkortning av Pedestrian Crossing (övergångsställe), skapades för att användas som ett hjälpmedel för dessa personer vid övergångsställen utrustade med trafikljus. Prototypen konstruerades som en mobil robot försedd med tre hjul i CAD-programmet Solid Edge ST9 och består av ett flertal komponenter. Mikrokontrollern, Arduino Uno, programmerades i Arduino IDE. En Pixy2-kamera användes som bildsensor som kan spåra och detektera färgkoder. Differentialstyrning användes för att enkelt kunna styra PeCro med hjälp av magnetiska givare som var fästa på motoraxlarna. PeCro skannar sin omgivning. Om den ser grönt ljus, börjar den leta efter den blå lådan på gatustolpen på motsatt sida vägen. När den blåa lådan detekteras åker roboten över övergångsstället och roterar 180 grader för att kunna användas i motsatt riktning, tillbaka över vägen. I projektet studerades en bildsensors prestanda i olika ljusmiljöer, de magnetiska givarnas effektivitet vid avståndsmätning och dess reglering av styrningen, samt avståndsmätning genom linjär interpolation. Från resultaten kan ses att PeCros detektering påverkas av ljusmiljön och att det maximala avståndet som respektive färgkod kan detekteras på är 163 respektive 150 cm. Vidare kan ses att vid avståndsmätning med magnetiska givare uppstår en konstant avvikelse från den önskade sträckan. Avståndsmätning med magnetiska givare är att föredra framför mätning med linjär interpolation. Avslutningsvis, om PeCro ska kunna användas i vardagliga situationer, kommer viss vidareutveckling behöva genomföras.

Multi-fold Time Domain Electromagnetics (TDEM) is a novel experimental approach that couples elements of traditional land-based TDEM survey designs to obtain a robust data set. This design inherently accommodates a broad range of possible Earth models through a rich combination of analysis opportunities making it ideally suited for reconnaissance. Kentland Farms, VA was chosen as the test site, for its ease of access and interesting geologic features such as river terraces and karstic landscape. Three independent methods of analyzing the 3-component data set each provided unique insights into the subsurface electrical structure through a complementary interpretation. Synthesis of log-normalized ∂tB_z pseudo-sections provided a first-order analysis of the lateral and vertical heterogeneities of the profile. A Zero-Crossing Moveout (ZCMO) analysis used a brute-force grid-search inversion to estimate the two-layer Earth model that best-fit the observed moveout times for a range of interface depths. By using the ZCMO result as an initial model, regularized 1D Occam inversions determined a 3-layer electrical structure consisting of a 3.5 m – 5 m thick resistive upper layer, over an 12.5 m – 15 m thick conductive layer, overlying a resistive half-space. From correlation of the inverse solutions with ZCMO derived conductivity models and prior resistivity information, the depth to the limestone bedrock was approximated to be 16 – 20 m. The delineation of the bedrock depth provided additional support for the fill-cut terrace formation model (Ward et al., 2005), as well as possible evidence of groundwater drainage on the 40 m terrace at Kentland Farm. / Master of Science

Dependency parsing can be a useful tool to allow computers to parse text. In 2015, Kuhlmann and Jonsson proposed a logical deduction system that parsed to non-crossing dependency graphs with an asymptotic time complexity of O(n3), where “n” is the length of the sentence to parse. This thesis extends the deduction system by Kuhlmann and Jonsson; the extended deduction system introduces certain crossing edges, while maintaining an asymptotic time complexity of O(n4). In order to extend the deduction system by Kuhlmann and Jonsson, fifteen logical item types are added to the five proposed by Kuhlmann and Jonsson. These item types allow the deduction system to intro-duce crossing edges while acyclicity can be guaranteed. The number of inference rules in the deduction system is increased from the 19 proposed by Kuhlmann and Jonsson to 172, mainly because of the larger number of combinations of the 20 item types. The results are a modest increase in coverage on test data (by roughly 10% absolutely, i.e. approx. from 70% to 80%), and a comparable placement to that of Kuhlmann and Jonsson by the SemEval 2015 task 18 metrics. By the method employed to introduce crossing edges, derivational uniqueness is impossible to maintain. It is hard to defien the graph class to which the extended algorithm, QAC, parses, and it is therefore empirically compared to 1-endpoint crossing and graphs with a page number of two or less, compared to which it achieves lower coverage on test data. The QAC graph class is not limited by page number or crossings. The takeaway of the thesis is that extending a very minimal deduction system is not necessarily the best approach, and that it may be better to start off with a strong idea of to which graph class the extended algorithm should parse. Additionally, several alternative ways of extending Kuhlmann and Jonsson are proposed. / Dependensparsning kan vara ett användbart verktyg för att få datorer att kunna läsa text. Kuhlmann och Jonsson kom 2015 fram till ett logiskt deduktionssystem som kan parsa till ickekorsande grafer med en asymptotisk tidskomplexitet O(n3), där "n" är meningens som parsas längd. Detta arbete utökar Kuhlmann och Jonssons deduktionssystem så att det kan introducera vissa korsande bågar, medan en asymptotisk tidskomplexitet O(n4) uppnås. För att tillåta deduktionssystemet att introducera korsande bågar, introduceras 15 nya logiska delgrafstyper, eller item. Dessa item-typer tillåter deduktionssystemet att introducera korsande bågar på ett sådant sätt att acyklicitet bibehålls. Antalet logiska inferensregler tags från Kuhlmanns och Jonssons 19 till 172, på grund av den större mängden kombinationer av de nu 20 item-typerna. Resultatet är en mindre ökning av täckning på testdata (ungefär 10 procentenheter, d v s från cirka 70% till 80%), och jämförbar placering med Kuhlmann och Jonsson enligt måtten från uppgift 18 från SemEval 2015. Härledningsunikhet kan inte garanteras på grund av hur bågar introduceras i det nya deduktionssystemet. Den utökade algoritmen, QAC, parsar till en svårdefinierad grafklass, som jämförs empiriskt med 1-endpoint-crossing-grafer och grafer med pagenumber 2 eller mindre. QAC:s grafklass har lägre täckning än båda dessa, och har ingen högre gräns i pagenumber eller antal korsningar. Slutsatsen är att det inte nödvändigtvis är optimalt att utöka ett mycket minimalt och specifikt deduktionssystem, och att det kan vara bättre att inleda processen med en specifik grafklass i åtanke. Dessutom föreslås flera alternativa metoder för att utöka Kuhlmann och Jonsson.

Highway roughness is a concern for both the motoring public and highway authorities. Roughness may even increase the risk of crashes. Rail-highway grade crossings are particularly problematic. Roughness may be due to deterioration or simply due to the way the crossing was built to accommodate grade change, local utilities, or rail elevation. With over 216,000 crossings in the US, maintenance is a vast undertaking. While methods are available to quantify highway roughness, no method exists to quantitatively assess the condition of rail crossings. Conventional inspection relies on a labor-intensive process of qualitative judgment. A quantifiable, objective and extensible procedure for rating and prioritizing improvement of crossings is thus desired. In this dissertation, a 3D infrastructure condition assessment model is developed for evaluating the condition and performance of rail highway grade crossings. Various scanning techniques and devices are developed or used to obtain the 3D “point cloud” or surface as the first step towards quantifying crossing roughness. Next, a technique for repeatable field measurement of acceleration is presented and tested to provide a condition index. Acceleration-based metrics are developed, and these can be used to rate and compare crossings for improvement programs to mitigate potential vehicle damage and provide passenger comfort. A vehicle dynamic model is next customized to use surface models to estimate vertical accelerations eliminating the need for field data collection. Following, crossing roughness and rideability is estimated directly from 3D point clouds. This allows isolation of acceleration components derived from the surface condition and original design profile. Finally, a practice ready application of the 3D point cloud is developed and presented to address hump crossing safety. In conclusion, the dissertation presents several methods to assess the condition and performance of rail crossings. It provides quantitative metrics that can be used to evaluate designs and construction methods, and efficiently implement cost effective improvement programs. The metrics provide a technique to measure and monitor system assets over time, and can be extended to other infrastructure components such as pavements and bridges.