The understanding of what motivates a customer to pay more for a product or service has al-ways been a fundamental question in business. To the end of answering this question, revenue management is a business practice that revolves around using analytics to predict consumer behavior and willingness-to-pay. It has been a common practice within the commercial airline and hospitality industries for over 30 years, allowing adopters to reach their service capacity with increased profit margins. In this thesis, we investigated the possibility to apply revenue management to the last mile delivery industry, an industry that provides the service of delivering goods from e-commerce companies to the consumer’s front door. To achieve this objective, a revenue management framework was conceived, detailing the interaction between the customer and a dynamic pricing model. The model itself was a product of a machine learning model, intended to segment the customers and predict the willingness-to-pay of each customer segment. The performance of this model was tested through a quantitative study on synthetic buyers, subject to parameters that influence their willingness-to-pay. It was observed that the model was able to distinguish between different types of customers, yielding a pricing policy that increased profits by 7.5% in comparison to fixed price policies. It was concluded that several factors may impact the customer’s willingness-to-pay within the last mile delivery industry. Amongst these, the convenience that the service provides and the disparity between the price of the product and the price of the service were the most notable. However, the magnitude of considering these parameters was never determined. Finally, em-ploying dynamic pricing has the potential to increase the availability of the service, enabling a wider audience to afford the service. / Vad som motiverar en kund att betala mer för en tjänst eller en produkt har länge varit ett centralt koncept inom affärslivet. Intäktsoptimering är en affärspraxis som strävar efter att besvara den frågan, genom att med analytiska verktyg mäta och förutse betalningsviljan hos kunden. Intäktsoptimering har länge varit framträdande inom flyg- och hotellbranschen, där företag som anammat strategin har möjlighets att öka försäljningsvinsten. I detta examensarbete undersöker vi möjligheten att applicera intäktsoptimering på sista milen industrin, en industri som leverar köpta produkten hem till kunden. För att uppnå detta har vi tagit fram ett ramverk för informationsflöden inom intäktsoptimering som beskriver hur kunder interagerar med en dynamisk prissättningsmodell. Denna prissättningsmodell framställs genom maskininlärning med avsikt att segmentera kundbasen, för att sedan förutse betalningsviljan hos varje kundsegment. Modellens prestanda mättes genom en kvantitativ studie på syntetiska kunder som beskrivs av parametrar som påverkar betalningsviljan. Studien påvisade att modellen kunde skilja på betalningsviljan hos olika kunder och resulterade i en genomsnittlig vinstökning på 7.5% i jämförelse med statiska prissättningsmodeller. Det finns mänga olika faktorer som spelar in på kundens betalningsvilja inom sista milen industrin. Bekvämlighet och skillnader i priset på produkten som levereras och tjänsten att leverera produkten är två anmärkningsvärda faktorer. Hur stor inverkan faktorerna som beskrivs i detta examensarbete, har på betalningsviljan, förblev obesvarat. Slutligen uppmärksammades möjligheten att, med hjälp av dynamisk prissättning, öka tillgängligheten av tjänsten då flera kunder kan ha råd med en prissättning som överväger deras betalningsvilja.

In the present thesis an investigation is performed for the effect of moisture contenton the aging of the solid insulation for transformers that are dynamically loaded. Theinvestigation is based on a theoretical analysis and a model.First, a literature review is conducted on the basics of transformer operation, transformerinsulation and moisture in oil-paper systems. Furthermore, a model is developedbased on moisture equilibrium curves created by Oommen and MIT, moisture diffusionprocesses in oil-paper insulation systems and calculations for the aging of cellulose insulationfrom IEC 60076-7. The model represents an experimental system which is loadedon different load patterns that simulate dynamic loading. The aim of the model is toconclude whether the load patterns will cause the paper to age differently dependingon the frequency that the moisture migration phenomenon between paper and oil occurs.The result of the modeling part is that the aging process is affected by the load pattern,and that the higher the frequency the moisture migration phenomenon occurs within aloading cycle, the larger the impact on insulation degradation. This difference, though,is too small to be measured experimentally in terms of DP and it is suggested thatdifferent load patterns are used in the experiment than those used in the model, whichwill amplify the effect of moisture migration even further.Finally, experimental work is conducted in the thesis, which focuses on implementingthe LabVIEW design from previous work into hardware, debugging the system andpreparing the experimental set-up on practical matters that occurred in the lab. Somefinal work is required before the experiment is able to run, such as preparation of theexperimental units. / I detta examensarbete undersöks effekten av fuktinnehåll på åldring av fast isolationsmateriali transformatorer med dynamisk last. Arbetet är baserat på en teoretisk analysoch en modell.Först genomförs en litteraturstudie på grundläggande transformatorfunktion, transformatorisolationoch fukt i oljeimpregnerade papperssystem. Vidare utvecklas en modellbaserad på jämviktskurvor for fukt skapade av Oommen och MIT, fuktdifussionsprocesseri isolationssystem baserade på oljeimpregnerat papper och beräkning av åldringav cellulosaisolation från IEC 60076-7. Modellen representerar ett experimentellt systemsom lastas för att simulera dynamisk last. Målet med modellen är att avgörahuruvida lastprofilen påverkar åldrandet av pappret beroende på frekvensen av fuktmigrationenmellan papper och olja.Resultatet av modelleringen är att åldrandet påverkas av lastprofilen och desto oftarefuktmigrationen sker inom en lastcykel, desto större är effekten på isolationsdegraderingen.Skillnaden är dock för liten att mäta experimentellt med avseende på DP och andralastprofiler föreslås i framtida experiment, för att förstärka effekten av fuktmigration.Slutligen utförs experimentellt arbete som fokuserar på implementation av LabVIEWdesignenfrån tidigare arbete i hårdvara, felsökning av systemet samt förberedelse av denexperimentella installationen för praktiska bekymmer som uppstått i laboratoriemiljön.En liten mängd arbete återstår före experimentet kan utföras, såsom förberedelse av deexperimentella enheterna.

L’introduction de petites faunes au sein du régime alimentaire humain dans le passé constitue un sujet de recherche essentiel dans la compréhension des modes de subsistance des chasseurs-cueilleurs, notamment au Paléolithique supérieur. Durant cette période, et notamment au Dernier Maximum Glaciaire, le lapin de garenne (Oryctolagus cuniculus) domine les assemblages fauniques de nombreux sites archéologiques de la Péninsule Ibérique. Plusieurs hypothèses ont été avancées afin de comprendre le rôle que ce petit gibier a pu jouer dans la subsistance des groupes humains. Néanmoins, la multitude et la variété de ces hypothèses reflètent, d’un côté, le manque de consensus quant à la portée de l’exploitation du lapin dans la subsistance durant cette période dans la Péninsule Ibérique, et elles soulignent d’un autre côté que l’appréhension des implications économiques, technologiques, environnementales et sociales de son exploitation est une tâche complexe. A partir de ce double constat, j’ai dès lors établi comme problématique d’explorer les potentielles motivations liées à la chasse du lapin et d'appréhender le rapport entre les humains et cette espèce de petite taille, et ce dans l’objectif d’obtenir une meilleure compréhension des modes de subsistance adoptés pendant cette période en Ibérie. L’approche développée dans cette thèse repose sur la proposition que l’explication du pourquoi les humains exploitaient le lapin doit être traitée par une compréhension du comment les humains chassaient ce petit gibier. Si nous voulons analyser le régime alimentaire humain dans le passé, nous devons effectivement comprendre comment les humains prenaient leurs décisions cynégétiques. A cette fin, un des cadres théoriques principalement utilisé en archéologie, la Optimal Foraging Theory, a été employé, en complément de la modélisation à base d’agents. La problématique a été répartie en trois questions de recherche distinctes et complémentaires, chacune faisant l’objet d’une publication. Dans le premier article, l’application du Diet Breadth Model issu de la Optimal Foraging Theory a permis d’observer que l’exploitation d’une garenne est optimale lorsque plusieurs individus capturent un minimum de 7 lapins à l’aide de filets au cours du Dernier Maximum Glaciaire dans la Péninsule Ibérique. Dans le second article, nous avons mené des expériences de simulation à travers le développement d’un modèle à base d’agents pour évaluer les implications de ce type d’exploitation dans un cadre plus réaliste au sein duquel les humains interagissent, avant de l'intégrer, dans le troisième article, dans différents contextes socio-économiques qui lui sont associés et observés dans le registre ethno-historique. Nos résultats montrent que la composition du régime alimentaire humain et, par-là, le retour énergétique quotidien, sont influencés par l'organisation sociale entre les membres d'un groupe, la stratégie de chasse et la technologie associée afin d’exploiter une garenne. Particulièrement, la rentabilité de l’exploitation des ressources est encore plus grande si les femmes, les enfants et les ainés sont impliqués dans l’exploitation des garennes à travers des battues et/ou l’aide de filets. Par conséquent, cette thèse expose que le développement de formations socio-culturelles optimales basées sur une division des tâches de subsistance selon l’âge et/ou le sexe (et de la technologie qui leur est associée) a pu permettre aux groupes humains de s'adapter aux environnements de la Péninsule Ibérique au Dernier Maximum Glaciaire. Finalement, le lapin ayant probablement été un complément alimentaire important pendant cette période, cette thèse souligne la nécessité de considérer son exploitation (et celle de petites faunes en général) lors de l’interprétation du registre zooarchéologique car des changements d’un point de vue économique, technologique mais aussi socio-culturel dans les modes de subsistance adoptés dans le passé peuvent être ainsi appréhendés. / The introduction of small fauna into the human diet in the past is an essential research topic in the understanding of hunter-gatherer subsistence patterns, particularly in the Upper Paleolithic. During this period, and particularly during the Last Glacial Maximum, the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) dominates the faunal assemblages of many archaeological sites in the Iberian Peninsula. Several hypotheses have been proposed to understand the role played by this small game in the subsistence of past human groups. Nevertheless, the number and diversity of these hypotheses first reflect a lack of agreement as to the extent to which rabbits played a role in subsistence during this period in the Iberian Peninsula. Secondly, they underline the complexity of understanding the economic, technological, environmental, and social implications of rabbit exploitation. From these observations, I established as the problematic to explore the potential motivations behind rabbit hunting, and to apprehend the relationship between humans and this small game, with the aim of providing a better understanding of the subsistence patterns adopted during this period in Iberia. The approach developed in this thesis is based on that the explanation of why humans exploited rabbits must be addressed by an understanding of how humans hunted them. If we are to analyze human diet in the past, we must indeed understand how humans made their hunting decisions. To this end, one of the theoretical frameworks mainly used in archaeology, the Optimal Foraging Theory, has been adopted, complemented by Agent-Based Modeling. I divided the problematic into three distinct and complementary research questions, each the subject of a publication. In the first article, the application of the Diet Breadth Model derived from the Optimal Foraging Theory enabled us to observe that the exploitation of a warren is optimal when several individuals capture a minimum of 7 rabbits using nets during the Las Glacial Maximum in the Iberian Peninsula. In the second paper, we carried out simulation experiments through the development of an Agent-Based Model to assess the implications of this type of exploitation in a more realistic environment in which humans interact, before integrating it, in the third paper, into different socio-economic contexts related to it and observed in the ethno-historical record. Our results show that the composition of the human diet and, consequently, the daily energetic return are influenced by the social organization between group members, the hunting strategy and the associated technology employed for exploiting a warren. In particular, the energetic efficiency of resource exploitation is even greater if women, children, and elders are involved in exploiting warrens through net hunting and/or drives. Consequently, this thesis argues that the development of optimal socio-cultural group configurations based on an age and/or gender-based division of labor (and their associated technology) may have enabled human groups to successfully adapt to the environments of the Iberian Peninsula during the Last Glacial Maximum. Finally, as rabbit was probably an important energetic source during this period, this thesis highlights the need to consider its exploitation (and that of small game in general) when interpreting the zooarchaeological record, as not only economic and technological, but also socio-cultural changes in subsistence patterns adopted in the past can be apprehended.

No description available.

Zur Evaluierung des mechanischen Tragekomforts von Rucksäcken wurden die Einflussfaktoren Geschlecht, Last und Bewegung auf die Gurtkräfte am Rucksack untersucht. Dazu wurde ein individuelles Messsystem entwickelt. Aus der Datenanalyse lässt sich folgern, dass die Gurtkraft nicht vom Geschlecht des Rucksackträgers abhängt. Die Rucksacklast und die Form der Aktivität hingegen sind relevante Indikatoren. / To evaluate the mechanical wearing comfort of backpacks, the factors influencing the strap forces on the backpack were investigated, namely gender, load and movement. An individual measurement system was developed for this purpose. From the data analysis, it can be concluded that the strap force does not depend on the gender of the backpack wearer. The backpack load and the form of the activity, on the other hand, are relevant indicators.

Denna rapport inleds med övergripande genomgång av dagens gällande regelverk, Eurokod, medförklaring av olika begrepp som är relaterade till ämnet robusthet. Det görs en genomgång av huren byggnadskonstruktör bör beakta robustheten med förslag vid olika dimensioneringssituationerenligt norm. Eftersom normen inte alltid är tydlig, så redovisas en tolkning av normen (inkl. EKS11) i enlighet med fib (2012). Vidare så förtydligas även innebörden av konsekvensklasser, riskanalyser,utformning och dimensionering av förband och dragband enligt norm. I dettaexamensarbete redogörs också för de egenskaper som är viktiga för att bärverk ska kunna motståexceptionella förhållanden. Beräkningsexempel ges, med förslag på utformning och placering avförband för att uppnå en viss robusthet enligt norm. Dagens regelverk är många gångerbristfälliga och oklara. Exempelvis finns ingen dimensioneringsprocedur för hur en tillräckligrobusthet uppnås, vilket nödvändigtvis inte alltid är den minimala robustheten som normen ger.Det framgår heller inte hur bärverken bör utformas för att uppnå robusthet och redundans,speciellt för prefabricerade element-, där tillräcklig robusthet många gånger kan vara svårt elleromöjligt att uppnå. Normens dimensioneringssituationer grundar sig på statiska lastmodeller ochhuruvida dessa ger tillräcklig robusthet eller inte, läggs det ingen fokus på. Robusthetens storlekbaserar sig mer eller mindre på vedertagna schablonmässiga värden. En nackdel med detta äratt förutsättningar i byggnader kan förändras med tiden vilket kan leda till att dagensdimensionering blir otillräcklig. Detta belyser faran med att vara nöjd med dagens förenkladedimensioneringsverktyg, eftersom den bakomliggande fysiken då lätt kommer i skymundan, elleri värsta fall, faller i glömska. Ett exempel på detta är dimensionering av väsentliga bärverk (keyelement)som är avgörande för byggnadens stabilitet eller för att motverka fortskridande rasenligt SS-EN 1991-1-7. Väsentliga bärverk dimensioneras för en statiskt jämnt utbredd last på34 kN/m² som är ett uppskattat värde utifrån en olyckshändelse med en gasexplosion i RonanPoint (Storbritannien). Värdet härstammar ifrån värdet 5 psi (gasol/hushållsgas kan ge ensprängkraft på 2,5 psi) och man kan fundera på om detta värde är lämpligt att använda i Sverige,då nästan inga gasspisar används i bostäder idag. I detta examensarbete beskrivs övergripandebärverkets dynamiska respons. Det är vanligt att byggnadskonstruktörer många gånger intebesitter kunskaper om dynamiska laster, bärverkens dynamiska respons och ibland icke-linjäraanalyser. Exceptionell last som är ett samlingsnamn för flera olyckslaster så som explosion,påkörning (från fordon, tåg, fartyg etc.), brand, häftiga helikopterlandningar etc. I dettaexamensarbete har valts att lägga fokus på okända olyckslaster och en känd, vanligtförekommande olyckslast (påkörningslast). / This report begins with an overall review of the current regulations, Eurocode, and explanations ofvarious concepts related to the topic of robustness. A review of how a building designer shouldconsider the robustness with proposals for different design situations according to the guidelines isalso presented. Since the guidelines are not always clear, an interpretation of its application (incl.EKS 11) in accordance with fib (2012) is given. Furthermore, the meaning of consequence classes,risk analyzes, design of tension ties is clarified. In this thesis it is discussed what properties areimportant for the structures to withstand exceptional loads. Calculation examples and placement oftension ties to achieve a certain robustness are presented. Current regulations are often insufficientand unclear. For example, there is no procedure for how to achieve enough robustness, which isnot always the minimum robustness that the code prescribes. It is also not clear how the structuresshould be designed to achieve robustness and redundancy, especially for prefabricated elements,where enough robustness often can be difficult or impossible to achieve. The current code is basedon static load models, and whether they provide enough robustness are not considered. The robustnessis based on accepted code values. One disadvantage is that conditions in buildings can changeover time, which can cause current design methods to be insufficient. This highlights the danger ofbeing satisfied with current simplified codes and guidelines, since the underlying physics can easilyfall into oblivion. An example of this is the design of key elements that are crucial for the stabilityof buildings or to withstand progressive collapse according to SS-EN 1991-1-7. Key elementsare designed for a statically uniformly distributed load of 34 kN/m², which is an estimatedvalue from an accident, where the value reflects the explosion load from a gas explosion inRonan Point (United Kingdom). The value stands for 5 psi and one can wonder if this value issuitable to use in Sweden, since almost no gas stoves are used anymore in housing today. Thisthesis describes overall the dynamic response of a structure. It is common that building designersoften do not have knowledge of dynamic loads, the dynamic response and sometimes non-linearanalyzes. Exceptional load is a collective name for several accident loads such as explosion,collision (from vehicles, trains, ships etc.), fire, violent helicopter landings etc. In this thesisit is chosen to focus on unknown accident loads and one com-mon, known accident load (impactload.

Electrification of isolated rural areas in developing countries is a key action for the total eradication of energy poverty. A growing number of authors argue that this electrification should be done with distributed energy systems that combine different renewable energy sources, rather than trying to reach these communities with grid extensions. This is evidenced by numerous projects that have been carried out over the last years in different developing countries with different needs, climatic conditions and resources. These projects have very scarce resources and therefore need to be optimised. To do so, it would be very important to standardise their design, but this is very difficult as there are many variables involved. One of the most common design decisions that remains to be standardised is the question: What is the best way to bring the electricity supply to all the houses in the rural area being electrified? This Master Thesis has worked on solving this question by developing a prefeasibility tool which includes a mathematical model of the energy dispatch which minimizes the OPEX, a function which calculates the CAPEX and a final function which obtains the LCOE of the system by using the outputs of the forementioned model and tool. The tool has been implemented into the programming language Julia. Some of the parameters that need to be input to the model are the number of households, geographical distances between households, types of cables, transformers, generation technologies installed powers, among others. Besides, once the tool has been developed a series of tryouts and analysis have been carried out to confirm the robustness of the tool as well as to learn more about the behaviour of the costs structure. By carrying out the analysis of the results, the tool has successfully proven its validity. Moreover, a sensitivity analysis has been carried out to answer questions like which is the cheapest option, keeping a household isolated from the clusters or creating a stand-alone system for it? To sum up, as it has been said, this thesis has tried to answer the question settled previously with the aim of creating a useful and standard tool that could help other similar projects in their decision-making processes. / Elektrifiering av isolerade landsbygdsområden i utvecklingsländer är en nyckelåtgärd för att totalt utrota energifattigdomen. Ett växande antal författare hävdar att denna elektrifiering bör göras med distribuerade energisystem som kombinerar olika förnybara energikällor, snarare än att försöka nå dessa samhällen med nätutbyggnader. Det vittnar om ett flertal projekt som har genomförts under de senaste åren i olika utvecklingsländer med olika behov, klimatförhållanden och resurser. Dessa projekt har mycket knappa resurser och behöver därför optimeras. För att göra det skulle det vara mycket viktigt att standardisera deras design, men detta är mycket svårt eftersom det finns många variabler inblandade. Ett av de vanligaste designbesluten som återstår att standardisera är frågan: Vad är det bästa sättet att få elförsörjningen till alla hus på landsbygden som elektrifieras? Denna masteruppsats har arbetat med att lösa denna fråga genom att utveckla ett prefeasibility-verktyg som inkluderar en matematisk modell av energisändningen som minimerar OPEX, en funktion som beräknar CAPEX och en slutlig funktion som erhåller LCOE för systemet genom att använda utdata från den tidigare nämnda modellen och verktyget. Verktyget har implementerats i programmeringsspråket Julia. Några av parametrarna som behöver matas in i modellen är bland annat antalet hushåll, geografiska avstånd mellan hushållen, typer av kablar, transformatorer, genereringsteknik installerad kraft. När verktyget har utvecklats har dessutom en serie tester och analyser genomförts för att bekräfta verktygets robusthet samt för att lära sig mer om hur kostnadsstrukturen fungerar. Genom att genomföra analysen av resultaten har verktyget framgångsrikt bevisat sin giltighet. Dessutom har en känslighetsanalys genomförts för att svara på frågor som vilket år det billigaste alternativet, hålla ett hushåll isolerat från klustren eller skapa ett fristående system för det? Sammanfattningsvis, som det har sagts, har denna avhandling försökt besvara den tidigare ställda frågan i syfte att skapa ett användbart och standardverktyg som skulle kunna hjälpa andra liknande projekt i deras beslutsprocesser.

This dissertation deploys theories of spatiotemporal experience and organization, most prominently Mikhail Bakhtin’s “chronotope,” to set contemporary literature, film, and music into dialogue with theories of post-Wende social and political experiences and possibility that speak, with Francis Fukuyama, as the contemporary as the “End of History.” Where these interlocutors of Fukuyama generally affirm or intensify his view of the contemporary as a time where historical progress slows to a halt, historical memory recedes from view, and the conditions of subjecthood are rephrased from participation in a struggle for progress to mindless consumption and technocratic tinkering, I engage contemporary artwork to flesh out and ultimately peer beyond the boundaries of the real and the possible these social theories articulate. Through a series of close readings of German films, music albums, and novels published between 1995 and 2021, I examine how German authors, filmmakers, and musicians pursue depictions of the malaises of the End of History while also resolutely pointing to the fissures in liberal capitalist hegemony where history—its past and its future—again becomes visible. Mikhail Bakhtin’s notion of the chronotope, a text’s unified expression of space and time, is central to my method of analysis. In tracing the chronotopic contours of contemporary works of music, film, and literature, I argue, we—as readers, viewers, and listeners—are engaged to think and act alongside the forms and figures that populate the worlds their authors create. In doing so, we ultimately uncover forceful accusations, resolute alternatives, and even hopeful antidotes to the deficiencies of our present that help us both to soberly contemplate the implications the pessimistic formulations of contemporary theory have on our lives, communities, and futures but also to formulate possibilities for them that lie beyond their analytical purview.In a series of close readings of my literary, filmic, and musical primary texts, I engage theorists of the post-Cold War, post-Wende contemporary who write about the political order and social conditions emerging out of the triumph of neoliberalism and market capitalism over socialist, communist, and fascist alternatives. The dissertation begins by establishing a wide view of the contemporary, tracing in its first chapter chronotopic resonances of Hartmut Rosa’s “social acceleration” thesis—which locates the aimlessness and alienation of contemporary society within the accelerationist logic of market capitalist modes of production—across the full temporal arc of the contemporary. Pairing Christian Kracht’s Faserland (1995) with Fatma Aydemir's Ellbogen (2017), I argue that the futilities and frustrations of the modern subject, as foretold in Fukuyama’s “End of History” essay and fleshed out in Rosa’s writings on social acceleration, find resonance not only in the wealthy, educated, white protagonist of Faserland’s 1990s, but also in the impoverished, undereducated, Turkish-Kurdish protagonist of Ellbogen some twenty years later. What connects these two accounts across decades and differences in identities, I demonstrate, is not merely a shared sense of alienation and despair, but a shared, underlying chronotopic characterization of the contemporary. These commonalities appear, I demonstrate, when we connect Rosa’s “social acceleration” thesis to diegetic chronotopes of perpetual motion that depict modern subjects’ inability to avail themselves of the ostensibly liberatory potential of liberal capitalism’s accelerated lifeworld. Chapter 2 then considers Byung-Chul Han’s theory of auto-exploitation and the dilemma of the music novel at a time where the rebellion of punk against social integration has been thoroughly incorporated into capitalism. Reading Marc Degens’ Fuckin Sushi (2015), I examine the novel’s concept of “Abrentnern” as a model for personal and communal fulfillment for those who turn to art as a means self-determination in the age of auto-exploitation. Unlike Kracht and Aydemir, however, Degens sees the closing off of historical possibilities for the good life enjoyed by his punk forbears—here, self-determination through transgressive artistic praxis—not as the contemporary subject’s damnation to cyclical patterns of despair but as a challenge to conceive of the good life anew. Working humorously through its hapless protagonist Niels’ repeated attempts to escape the seemingly inevitable for-profit co-option of his sincere artistic efforts, the novel serves to unveil the persistence of blind spots in this regime of totalizing exploitation. What results is an account of the double-edged logic of capitalist productivity’s ostensible totalization of labor-time. Capitalism, Niels unwittingly discovers, is a logic of production so overwhelming that it continuously drives subjects towards the discovery of new alterities that, for a brief time at least, allow subjects once again to slip between the cracks. The third chapter explores a similar phenomenon of halting resistance to the conditions of the capitalist present through the lens of futurity. Here, I push back against Mark Fisher’s theory of the dominance of “Capitalist Realism” in the contemporary aesthetic imagination, identifying and developing the notion of “subtle futurity”—the modest, yet resolute rephrasing of future possibility beyond the “way things are” of the present—in Leif Randt’s Schimmernder Dunst über CobyCounty (2011) In this light, I argue, Randt’s gestures towards a different future, however halting, mark a significant effort to imagine a benevolent form of future possibility within the context of an era often suspected to have been exhausted of its utopian sentiment. The final two chapters turn to past-minded works that more forcefully repudiate notions of the present as static or closed off from the movement of history. Chapter Four considers W.G. Sebald’s 1995 novel, Die Ringe des Saturn, and The Caretaker’s 2012 album, Patience (After Sebald), developing an account of the chronotopic means by which these works revisit materials of the past within the present. Chronotopic motifs of paraphrase—techniques of sampling in The Caretaker and narrative polyphony in Sebald—come together within macro-level chronotopic frameworks of peripatetic movement—looping repetition in The Caretaker and the retracing of bygone journeys in Sebald—to testify to the unanswered questions and unfinished work of history over and against notions of the present as a time where the past has been relegated to mere museum content or nostalgia for bygone ways of living. Where Chapter Four speaks primarily to the formal mechanisms by which the present rediscovers the past, Chapter Five examines two specific chronotopic innovations for thematically engaging constellations of past-present inter-temporality. Both Sharon Dodua Otoo’s 2021 novel, Adas Raum, and Christian Petzold’s 2018 film, Transit, develop chronotopes wherein past and present are intermingled in increasingly inseparable ways. Adas Raum, I demonstrate, is organized spatiotemporally as a nexus of coiled loops—pasts and presents intertwine, heaven and earth are tangled together, and the fates of human beings and even non-human objects follow spatial and temporal trajectories that weave in and out of conventional linear understandings of space and time. In similar fashion, past and present become inseparable in Petzold’s film, an adaptation of the Anna Seghers’ 1944 novel of the same name, through thematic and formal approaches of blurring that blend the plight of refugees of Seghers’ era with those of Petzold’s present day. History, then, appears remarkably robust in these texts, unfolding accounts of how human beings living through their present might take guidance from the generations that preceded them in the struggle for a better world.

L’objectif de cette thèse est de présenter la Banque islamique comme réponse à l’instabilité de l’économie de crédit. La lecture de la crise des subprimes au prisme du modèle post- keynésien de Minsky-Kindleberger permet d’affirmer que l’Hypothèse d’Instabilité Financière (HIF) débouche sur des propositions de gestion des crises financières. Car, si les crises sont inhérentes au capitalisme, il devient nécessaire et urgent de mettre en place des institutions à même de gérer les perturbations financières. Les réformes monétaires proposées au fil du temps par des éco- nomistes et le comité Bâle III posent le problème du développement bancaire. Dans le cas où la monnaie est séparée du crédit financier, soit le cas des reformes monétaires proposées par Fisher (1935) et ses disciples, nous rencontrons le problème du multiplicateur de crédit alors que le risque systémique est faible et il y a remise en cause de la nécessité du prêteur en dernier ressort dans ce système. Tandis que si la monnaie n’est pas séparée du crédit financier, cas des réformes monétaire proposées par des instruments de gestion tels que ceux proposées par Minsky (1982) ; Kindleberger (1989) ; Aglietta et Moutot (1993) ; Aglietta (2011) et le comité Bâle III, le risque systémique per- siste toujours. Dans ce dernier cas, c’est le prêteur en dernier ressort qui est le plus susceptible d’assumer l’objectif de la stabilité du système financier dans son ensemble en émettant de la liquidi- té ultime. L’étude comparative de deux cas de développement de banques islamiques, celui de l’Arabie Saoudite et celui du Pakistan, a montré que ces deux systèmes bancaires ont été confrontés au même problème que celui de la finance occidentale : le développement bancaire. Du fait que, si la monnaie est séparée du crédit financier – cas du Pakistan – les Banques islamiques sont à la fois moins vulnérables au risque systémique mais sont moins performantes. Alors que si la monnaie n’est pas séparée du crédit financier – cas de l’Arabie Saoudite – les banques islamiques sont plus vulnérables aux risques systémiques mais sont plus performantes. A contrario, même si la Banque islamique ne répond pas au risque systémique de l’Hypothèse de l’Instabilité de l’Économie de Crédit, elle résiste tout de même à la crise systémique de cette hypothèse du fait qu’elle ne peut en aucun cas conduire à une crise systémique comme celle des subprimes. Car, en contraste avec l’instrument du système financier conventionnel, les spécificités de l’instrument du système finan- cier islamique l’amènent à être moins vulnérable à la crise systémique. / The goal of this PhD is to analyze the Islamic bank model as a possible solution to the credit economy instability. Reading the subprime crisis through the post Keynesian model of Minsky-Kindleberger lenses allows us to assert that the Financial Instability Hypothesis (HIF) leads to proposals for financial crises management. If crises are inherent in capitalism, it becomes necessary and urgent to set up institutions able of managing financial perturbations. The monetary reforms suggested over time by economists and the Bale III committee too raises the problem of banking development. If money is separated from the financial credit, as in the example of Fisher (1935) and his followers monetary reforms shows, we run into the problem of the credit multiplier while the systemic risk is weak and the necessity of the lender of last resort in this system is questioned. Whereas, if money is not separated from the financial credit, as in the case of monetary reforms proposed by instruments of management such as those suggested by Minsky (1982), Kindleberger, Aglietta and Moutot (1993), Aglietta (2011) and Bale III, the systemic risk persists and this is, after all, the lender in the last resort who may assume the objective of the financial system’s stability in general by uttering of the ultimate liquidity. The development study of the two cases of Islamic banks, those in Saudi Arabia and those in Pakistan, showed the confrontation of these banks of the same problems noticed in the western finance. In fact, if money is separated from the financial credit, which is the case in Pakistan, Islamic banks are less vulnerable to systemic risk and are less efficient. While if money is not separated from the financial credit, as in Saudi Arabia, Islamic banks are more vulnerable to systemic risk and more efficient. However, even if the Islamic bank does not respond to the systemic risk of the Hypothesis of the Credit Economy’s instability, it answers as even to the systemic crises of this hypothesis. Hence, in all cases, it cannot lead to a systemic crisis similar to the subprime one. This is due to the fact that specification of the Islamic financial system instrument, in contrast to the instrument of the conventional financial system, is less vulnerable to the systemic crisis.

This thesis is a study of the shifting philosophical trends in the works of Samuel Beckett, Donald Barthelme, and Kurt Vonnegut as representations of a greater shift from modernism to postmodernism. I have chosen to explore Beckett's plays Waiting for Godot and Krapp's Last Tape, Barthelme's short stories "Nothing: A Preliminary Account," "The New Music," and "Kierkegaard Unfair to Schlegal," and Vonnegut's book Timequake to see how each author seeks to find a new hope in the face of a collapsed causal system. This work is an examination of the form and content of each author's work as it pertains to their own philosophical standing and in relation to the other two authors' works. I argue that each author finds a different hope for humanity depending on their place among the philosophical trends during their time. / Graduation date: 2012