Fukuzawa Yukichi’s Datsu-A Ron is a relic of Japan’s modern nationalism. Since its’ publication in the year of 1885, arguably, it had been branded as the very seed that led Japan onto the war path in the Pacific War. Yet, this rather short and dense pre-war Japanese nationalistic theory contains complex layers that may easily complicate its readers’ comprehensions. The purpose of this thesis is to decode the key words that were used in this theory and dissect the layers of this theory’s intentions to the general public for a clear and objective understanding.

Androgens are the main regulators of human hair growth stimulating larger, terminal hair development e.g. beard and causing scalp balding, androgenetic alopecia. Hair disorders cause psychological distress but are poorly controlled. Androgens probably act by altering regulatory paracrine factors produced by the mesenchyme-derived dermal papilla. This study aimed to investigate paracrine factors involved in androgen-regulated alopecia, particularly hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) family members, by investigating their in vivo status. Balding and non-balding scalp hair follicles and their component tissues were isolated and analysed by molecular biological methods (reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), quantitative PCR and DNA microarray analysis), cell culture and immunohistochemistry. Scalp follicles expressed a range of paracrine messenger genes. The dermal papilla, cultured dermal papilla cells and dermal sheath expressed several HGF family genes, while matrix cells only produced the receptor RON suggesting autocrine roles for HGF and MSP, but a paracrine route only for MSP. Comparing balding and non-balding follicles from the same individuals revealed the expected reduction in several keratin and keratin-related protein genes supporting this approach's validity. There were also significant differences in paracrine factors previously implicated in androgen action by in vitro studies. Several factors believed to increase during androgen stimulation of larger, darker follicles, e.g. IGF-I and SCF, were lowered in balding follicles, while putative inhibitory factors, e.g. TGFß-1, were increased. HGF and MSP and their receptors, c-Met and RON, were significantly reduced. These results increase our understanding of androgen action in human hair follicles; this could lead to better treatments for hair disorders.

The Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) engine is a promising engine concept that emits low concentrations of NOx and particulates and still has a high efficiency. Since the charge is auto-ignited, the auto-ignition quality of the fuel is of major importance. It has been shown in several studies that neither of the classical measures of auto-ignition quality of gasoline-like fuels, RON and MON, can alone describe this in all conditions in HCCI combustion. However, even in such cases it is possible to combine RON and MON into an octane index, OI, that describes the auto-ignition quality well in most conditions. The octane numbers are combined into the OI with the variable K according to the following equation: OI = (1-K)RON + K MON = RON – K S The OI of a sensitive fuel is the equivalent of the octane number of a primary reference fuel with the same resistance to auto-ignition in the tested condition. The K-value is dependent on the temperature and pressure history. A generic parameter Tcomp15, the temperature at 15 bar during the compression, was introduced to describe the temperature and pressure history. It was found that the K-value increases with increasing Tcomp15 and two linear equations have been suggested to describe this relationship. At high or low Tcomp15 it has been found that the sensitivity of the fuel octane quality on combustion phasing is small and the auto-ignition quality defined by the OI scale does no longer play a big role. NO affects the combustion phasing of gasoline-like fuels. This effect is most significant at low concentration where it advances the combustion phasing considerably. At higher conditions its influence is different for different fuels. A sensitive fuel is considered a good HCCI fuel since its OI changes in the same direction as the octane requirement of the engine, which would make the engine management easier. It is also likely that a sensitive fuel will enable a wider operating range. The auto-ignition quality of diesel-like fuels was studied in tests with three different strategies of mixture formation. In these tests it was found that the ignition delay increased with lower cetane number and that the cetane number described the auto-ignition quality well, even for fuels of significantly different physical properties. The experiments were, however, made at a limited range of operating conditions and low load. A good diesel-like HCCI fuel should be easy to vaporize to facilitate homogeneity. It should have a high resistance to auto-ignition, not necessarily the highest, one that allows both high and low loads at a given compression ratio. Finally, it should also function well with the injection system without a significant decrease in injection system life length. / QC 20100917

This thesis looks at illegal public art produced on state built barrier walls. The focus is on the artist Ron English, and his artworks produced on the Berlin Wall, Israeli Barrier Wall, and Mexican Border Fence. I examine English’s works in their respective contexts of Cold War divisions, the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, and tensions at the border between United States and Mexico. I also situate English’s works in relation to other artworks produced on these barriers. I argue that English is doing something different from other barrier wall artists in his work in Palestine and Mexico, offering a framework for understanding the primary motivations and tactics behind barrier wall art and highlighting English’s unique contributions.

This thesis examines how Gwyn Thomas and Ron Berry interact with and respond to landscape and environment in their fictional and non-fictional writing. Exploring how the writers negotiate the convergence of the industrial and the rural/natural in the uplands of the south Wales coalfield, in particular the Rhondda Fawr Valley, the study considers the literary geographies their work creates. Examining the themes of the cultural and political use of landscape and rural imagery, the manifestation of authority in landscapes, the impact of industrialisation and de-industrialisation, the uncanny underground environment and its dynamic interactions with the ground above, and post-industrial environmental issues, the study re-positions two industrial writers of Wales to reveal the significance of landscape, place and environment in their writing.

abstract: Origami is an art transforming a flat sheet of paper into a sculpture. Among various types of origami, the focus is on a particular class called the `Rigid Origami' ("RO"). A Rigid Origami, unlike other forms, is not intended to be folded into fancy shapes. On the contrary, an RO has a simple and a geometrically well-defined crease pattern and does not have curved/smudged faces. The folds can be carried out by a continuous motion in which, at each step, each face of the origami is completely flat. As a result, these planar faces experience very minimal strain due to loading. This property allows it to be used to fold surfaces made of rigid materials. Tapping into the geometrical properties of RO will open a new field of research with great practical utility. Analyzing each new RO pattern will require generating numerous prototypes; this is practically impossible to do, as it consumes a lot of time and material. The advantages of Finite Element Analysis/numerical modeling become very clear in this scenario. A new design concept may be modeled to determine its real world behavior under various load environments and may, therefore, be refined prior to the creation of drawings, when changes are inexpensive. Since an RO undergoes a non-local deformation when subjected to a disturbance, the usage of conventional FEA will not produce accurate results. A non-local element model was developed which can be used in conjunction with the finite element package ABAQUS, via its user-defined element (UEL). This model was tested on two RO patterns, namely Miura-Ori and Ron Resch, by carrying out basic simulations. There are many other interesting origami patterns, exhibiting different meta-material properties, yet to be explored. This Finite Element Approach equips researchers with necessary tools to study those options in great detail. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Mechanical Engineering 2014

Harry Potter-serien har kommit att bli en väldigt populär serie både hos barn och vuxna över hela världen. I både böckernas originalform och de adapterade filmerna har människor förälskat sig i berättelserna om Harry Potter och hans magiska värld. Det har gjorts flertalet studier om Harry Potter, där olika perspektiv behandlas utefter böckerna och/eller filmerna. I denna studie är syftet att jämföra den tredje boken respektive filmen i serien, Harry Potter och fången från Azkaban (2001; 2004), för att se vilka likheter och skillnader som finns mellan boken och den adapterade filmen.Studien tar hjälp av två analysmetoder: narrativanalys och komparativ analys. Med hjälp av dessa analysmetoder har en resumé skrivits som behandlar både boken och filmen i sin helhet. Analysmetoderna har även använts till att redogöra för och jämföra bokens respektive filmens uppbyggnad och genre, men också tre av de viktigare karaktärerna i de olika medierna.Analysen visar att karaktärernas viktigare egenskaper inte påverkas i adaptionen, detsamma gäller för berättelsens handling och genre. Vissa händelser och egenskaper som finns med i boken finns inte med i den adapterade filmen, vilket kan förklaras av att filmskaparna var tvungna att göra flera val i produceringen av filmen för att behålla kärnan i berättelsen.Uppbyggnaden påverkas i adaptionen genom att de olika medierna för berättelsen vidare genom skilda sätt, men berättelsens kärna hålls intakt. I undervisningssyfte går det att dra slutsatsen att denna berättelse, både som bok och film, går att arbeta med i undervisningen i årskurs 1-3.

Appalachian writing brings a voice to the region that is often obstructed or excluded by popular culture throughout the United States. Crowded with stereotypes, many stories of Appalachian culture are misconstrued or never heard at all. This makes the work of modern Appalachian writers especially significant. Perhaps one of the best ways to reach a broader audience of people in this fast-paced digital time is through shorter writings, and in this thesis I will be presenting my process of writing modern flash fiction and poetry and of sharing the truths of working class, Appalachian people.

Ron Rash’s Serena and Ann Pancake’s Strange as This Weather Has Been are two contemporary Appalachian novels that have yet to be analyzed from a biblical ecocritical perspective. While some literary scholars acknowledge the environmental aspects of the novels, little of their research goes beyond examining the land and its resources as commodities or metaphorical extensions for the characters. In this thesis, I elaborate on those interpretations by scrutinizing the natural descriptions in both novels and comparing those findings to some of the landscapes and environmental verses located within the Bible. Unlike the pastoral ideal found in a portion of the literature preceding the twentieth century, contemporary Appalachian writers such as Rash and Pancake have moved away from such a bucolic, prelapsarian idealization in favor of limning a more industrialized, postlapsarian Appalachia. Following both analyses, I conclude by predicting how emerging Appalachian writers will portray the landscape in future works.

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