This thesis aims to investigate the traces of multicultural implications in Joachim Heinrich Campe’s Robinson der Jüngere 1779/80. On one level, Campe’s adaptation of Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe appears to awaken or sustain potential colonial fantasies among its German readers. However, Campe’s Robinson der Jüngere does not follow colonial conventions, such as exhibited in Defoe, but instead depicts a society based much more on the concept of a common humanity shared by Europeans and Caribbean natives alike. It conceives of cooperation and exchange as a mutual gain for both parties. Robinson’s island functions as a kind of social testing ground offering opportunities for trial runs of Campe’s social-utopian concepts. In this way, the society Campe portrays offers an implicit critique of the colonial realities in his era as practiced by the European colonial powers. Thus, Robinson der Jüngere goes beyond the obvious pedagogical aim, inspired by Rousseau, to raise pious, self-sufficient and industrious citizens. Instead its underlying socio-political message deserves attention. In comparison with Defoe, Campe distances himself from practices of then-current colonial behavior, such as slavery and self-enrichment from exploiting natural resources. Among the indications that Campe was attempting to establish an ideal alternative to the colonialism of his era are his depictions of an amicable bond between Robinson and Freitag, the marriages of Europeans and natives and even the distinct wish of the Spaniards and Englishmen to remain in the ideal society Robinson had crafted on his island, rather than returning to Europe. The international success of Robinson der Jüngere suggests the lasting influence it had on generations of readers. In the analysis I present, Campe subliminally educates the listening children in the book and the reading public to become open-minded citizens of future societies.

Eudora Welty’s characterization of George Fairchild (Delta Wedding) queers the heroic masculine ideal, St George, whose legendary exploits have been popularized in narrative literature, Catholic iconography, and children’s fairy tale. Lauded by the Fairchild women for his “difference,” George’s sexuality offers him an identity apart from the suffocating Fairchild family myth. George Fairchild’s queer sexuality and homoeroticism augments our critical understanding of Delta Wedding, the character, as well as other characters. The author’s subtly politicized construction of the novel’s ostensible hero subverts literary tradition, the gender binary, and patriarchal myth.

This thesis aims to investigate the traces of multicultural implications in Joachim Heinrich Campe’s Robinson der Jüngere 1779/80. On one level, Campe’s adaptation of Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe appears to awaken or sustain potential colonial fantasies among its German readers. However, Campe’s Robinson der Jüngere does not follow colonial conventions, such as exhibited in Defoe, but instead depicts a society based much more on the concept of a common humanity shared by Europeans and Caribbean natives alike. It conceives of cooperation and exchange as a mutual gain for both parties. Robinson’s island functions as a kind of social testing ground offering opportunities for trial runs of Campe’s social-utopian concepts. In this way, the society Campe portrays offers an implicit critique of the colonial realities in his era as practiced by the European colonial powers. Thus, Robinson der Jüngere goes beyond the obvious pedagogical aim, inspired by Rousseau, to raise pious, self-sufficient and industrious citizens. Instead its underlying socio-political message deserves attention. In comparison with Defoe, Campe distances himself from practices of then-current colonial behavior, such as slavery and self-enrichment from exploiting natural resources. Among the indications that Campe was attempting to establish an ideal alternative to the colonialism of his era are his depictions of an amicable bond between Robinson and Freitag, the marriages of Europeans and natives and even the distinct wish of the Spaniards and Englishmen to remain in the ideal society Robinson had crafted on his island, rather than returning to Europe. The international success of Robinson der Jüngere suggests the lasting influence it had on generations of readers. In the analysis I present, Campe subliminally educates the listening children in the book and the reading public to become open-minded citizens of future societies.

Les arbres phylogénétiques sont des instruments de biologie évolutive offrant de formidables moyens d'étude pour la génomique comparative. Ils fournissent des moyens de représenter des mécanismes permettant de modéliser les relations de parenté entre les espèces ou les membres de familles de gènes en fonction de la diversité taxonomique, ainsi que des observations et des renseignements sur l'histoire évolutive, la structure et la variation des processus biologiques. Cependant, les méthodes traditionnelles d'inférence phylogénétique ont la réputation d'être sensibles aux erreurs. Il est donc indispensable de comparer les arbres phylogénétiques et de les analyser pour obtenir la meilleure interprétation des données biologiques qu'ils peuvent fournir. Nous commençons par aborder les travaux connexes existants pour déduire, comparer et analyser les arbres phylogénétiques, en évaluant leurs bonnes caractéristiques ainsi que leurs défauts, et discuter des pistes d'améliorations futures. La deuxième partie de cette thèse se concentre sur le développement de mesures efficaces et précises pour analyser et comparer des paires d'arbres génétiques avec des nœuds internes étiquetés. Nous montrons que notre extension de la métrique bien connue de Robinson-Foulds donne lieu à une bonne métrique pour la comparaison d'arbres génétiques étiquetés sous divers modèles évolutifs, et qui peuvent impliquer divers événements évolutifs. / Phylogenetic trees are instruments of evolutionary biology offering great insight for comparative genomics. They provide mechanisms to model the kinship relations between species or members of gene families as a function of taxonomic diversity. They also provide evidence and insights into the evolutionary history, structure, and variation of biological processes. However, traditional phylogenetic inference methods have the reputation to be prone to errors. Therefore, comparing and analysing phylogenetic trees is indispensable for obtaining the best interpretation of the biological information they can provide. We start by assessing existing related work to infer, compare, and analyse phylogenetic trees, evaluating their advantageous traits and flaws, and discussing avenues for future improvements. The second part of this thesis focuses on the development of efficient and accurate metrics to analyse and compare pairs of gene trees with labeled internal nodes. We show that our attempt in extending the popular Robinson-Foulds metric is useful for the preliminary analysis and comparison of labeled gene trees under various evolutionary models that may involve various evolutionary events.

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This study takes a structuralist approach to the development of the novel, arguing that eighteenth-century writers build progressive narrative by rendering abstract, then conflating, literary theories of gendered time that originate in the Renaissance with seventeenth-century scientific theories of motion. I argue that writers from the Renaissance through the eighteenth century generate and regulate progress-as-product in their narratives through gendered constructions of time that corresponded to the generation and regulation of economic, political, and social progress brought about by developing capitalism.

Šimon Knoška The spherically symmetric spacetimes represent one of the most important classes of solutions in general relativity. Therefore, it is very natural to study them also in the context of modified theories of gravity. We directly continue in the previous works in quadratic gravity, where the generalised solutions with the constant Ricci scalar were found in the form of power series expansion in the conformal coordinates. In this work, we have found an alternative expression of this solution in the Robinson-Trautman-like coordinates analogously in the form of power series expansion around the horizon. Al- though the prescribed recurrent power series solution is more complicated than that in the conformal-to-Kundt coordinates, it posses numerous advantages. Namely, the trans- formation to the Schwarzschild-like coordinates is considerable simple and the physical interpretation of the coordinates is more evident. These properties are demonstrated in the preliminary investigation of the geodesic motion of the test particles near the black hole with analysis of the effect of the so-called Bach parameter. In particular, we have observed that the Bach parameter together with the positive cosmological constant Λ > 0 has a significant impact on the global structure of the spacetime.

Bridge failures in the past decade due to structural deficiencies demonstrated the clear need for a review of the current bridge analysis approaches. This study focuses on pile-supported bridges under predominantly static loading. A critical review of the current analysis approaches was performed. It was concluded that in the absence of an onerous iteration process, the current approaches often produce inaccurate and, in many cases, unsafe results since the interactions between superstructure and foundation are not fully considered. To address the inherent limitations of the current approaches, a computer program [Soil Spring Module (SSM) 2.0] was developed as a part of the study. SSM 2.0 can be used in conjunction with a frame analysis program to capture nonlinear load transfer from foundation elements to soil in different directions simultaneously. STAAD.Pro was selected for demonstration in this study. Using SSM 2.0 and STAAD.Pro, this study proposes a new analysis approach using the Integrated Analysis Process (IAP). The same methodology can be applied in other frame analysis programs. Kansas Bridge 45 was selected as a case study. Using the IAP approach, a series of integrated analyses including all superstructure elements (e.g., deck, girders and piers) and all foundation elements (e.g., pile caps and piles) were performed on Kansas Bridge 45 for different soil types and properties. Different from the conventional approaches, the full interactions between superstructure and foundation were considered simultaneously in a single analysis using the IAP approach. The analysis results from the IAP approach and the conventional approaches were examined. The advantages of the IAP approach were identified. Comparing to the conventional approaches in current practice, the proposed IAP approach does not involve crude assumptions or intensive iterations. Using the IAP approach, design engineers can complete structural and foundation analysis of pile-supported bridges with good accuracy in a timely manner. The same methodology can potentially be applied to other structure types. / Graduate / 2022-12-15

Within this work we have been interested in the frame approach to analysis of the field equations in the context of theories of gravity, in particular, the Einstein General Relativ- ity and Quadratic theory of gravity. As the starting point we have summarised the least action principle formulation of the General Relativity and introduced the Quadratic grav- ity extending the classic Einstein-Hilbert action by adding quadratic curvature terms. The Quadratic gravity field equation have been rewritten into the form separating the Ricci tensor contribution. As a next step we have reviewed the Newman-Penrose formal- ism on a purely geometrical level and discussed employing the field equations constraints. While in the case of General Relativity it is quite trivial, in the Quadratic gravity it be- comes much more involved, however, the General Relativity procedure can be followed even here. As an illustration, we have formulated the constraints on the gravitational field in the cases of the spherically symmetric spacetimes and so-called pp-waves both in the GR as well as Quadratic gravity. 1

In this thesis we investigate Robinson-Trautman solutions of Einstein's gravity cou- pled to a matter field in higher dimensions, specifically a conformally invariant and non- linear electromagnetic field. The latter possesses in general a non-zero energy-momentum tensor, which provides a source term in Einstein's equations. We focus concretely on an electromagnetic field aligned with the null vector field generating the expanding con- gruence of Robinson-Trautman spacetimes. At the beginning, we review the concept of optical scalars for a null vector field in higher dimensions and we use those to define the higher-dimensional Robinson-Trautman class of spacetimes. Next, we solve the corre- sponding Einstein's equations and present the complete family of exact solutions of the theory under consideration. We then contrast the obtained results with the known ones for the linear Maxwell theory in higher dimensions. As a check, we also compare our results to the well-known results in D = 4, since in this case our matter theory reduces to the standard linear Maxwell theory. Finally, we study properties of a subfamily of solutions which represent the static black holes within our class. In particular, we ana- lyze the asymptotic behaviour, we show that a curvature singularity is always present for r → 0 and the...