Thesis (doctoral)--University of Tartu, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Zugl.: Konstanz, Universiẗat, Diss., 1988.

The long century of western cinema has produced numerous depictions of invisible bodies – those bodies that function as any other, save for the distinctive feature of their invisibility. The invisible body challenges conventions of cinematic production, presentation and reception, suggesting an ‘extra-visual’ cinema. But, as well as this, the invisible body also challenges conceptions of the limits and categorisation of the human sensorium. In tracing a sensory history of invisible bodies, this thesis is concerned with how such depictions connect with and contribute to constructions of the senses in the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. This thesis thus makes an original contribution to knowledge by asking: What kind of history of the senses can be found in the onscreen invisible body? In doing so, this thesis engages a film theory of the senses that asks what the depiction of the invisible body – itself a delicate cultural construction that has no direct equivalent in nature – brings to a cultural understanding of the modern sensorium. Chapter One introduces the sensualities of the invisible body in Die Nibelungen: Siegfried (1924). Chapter Two connects the imagery of The Invisible Man cycle (1933–1951) with a tendency towards sensory reconfiguration. Chapter Three addresses a Cold War phase of invisible extraterrestrials in terms of technologised sensory extension. Chapter Four identifies the late twentieth-century onscreen invisible body as representative of a reconstituted social sensorium. Finally, Chapter Five analyses sequences from The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001–2003), interpreting invisible embodiment in relation to the disorientations of both pain and intersensoriality. Through my approach, I connect the multisensory with the multidisciplinary, identifying the unsettling character of the onscreen invisible body as a consequence of its taxonomical unsettling of sensory and media boundaries.

This dissertation provides a critical re-assessment of the oeuvre of Francis Picabia (1879-1953) and assesses the ways the artist worked to resist the accommodation and domestication of his work. It emphasizes the role of negation and refusal in his painting and poetry, and examines his role as Dadaist and polemicist. This dissertation argues that as artists struggled to render art meaningful and sustainable under the totalizing effects of capitalism and modernity in the first half of the twentieth century, Picabia sought to travesty rather than transcend modernity by enacting an extremely nihilistic form of self-criticism and institutional critique. Picabia’s constant change of style and medium, delight in contradiction, elusive social behavior, extreme egoism, and steadfast commitment to the destabilization of intentionality in his work sought to interrupt the colonizing processes of commodification and to tautologically address the paradoxical and contradictory character of securing meaning in a world without meaning. Divided into five chapters, beginning with Picabia’s affiliation with Puteaux Cubism in Paris in 1911 and ending with a discussion of the final works made before his death in 1953, this dissertation seeks to contextualize major moments of during his career when refusal and negation—even the possible dissolution of his own practice—became the focus of his artistic production. Drawing on the theories of the literary critic Peter Bürger and the Hegelian-Marxist art historian TJ Clark, this study works to come to terms with the strengths, limits, and unresolved ambiguities of Picabia’s willfully antagonistic and conflicted oeuvre and to underscore the critical pressure his work and actions placed on stable narratives of modernism and the conditions that regulate and make meaning available in modern art.

This thesis investigates the potential of aesthetics in the design of Human-Computer Interactions (HCI). In particular, it aims to provide a means by which aesthetics can be applied in photorealistic virtual reality (VR) to create ‘engaging' experiences. Indeed, the author of this thesis suggests that much can be gained from looking at the aesthetics of photorealistic VR content as opposed to the more traditional HCI approaches that have primarily focused on the performance and efficiency issues of the technology. The thesis is motivated by the very notion that the aesthetic potential of photorealistic VR content is, and continues to be, underestimated whilst the emphasis on the development of newer and more efficient visualisation technologies to create engaging VR experiences increases. Challenging this, the research is firmly based on the premise that the aesthetic content of photorealistic VR environments holds at least as many possibilities for the creation of more complete and ‘engaging' experiences. To explore this, the thesis describes the aesthetic-interaction as a new type of interaction that focuses primarily on how one aesthetically interacts with an interface (as opposed to how one cognitively interacts with interface metaphors to activate certain aspects of its functionality). By concentrating on the design and the aesthetic content of photorealistic VR, more so than the building and enhancing of its functional capabilities, the research aims to probe how the user might be sensually attracted and aroused into the sharing of information and hence the creation of new and ‘engaging' experiences. In particular, this thesis examines the role of narrative in VR and from this, moves to the visual-narrative which for centuries has employed the use of aesthetics to ‘engage' the spectator in its process of storytelling. Integrating traits of the VR medium and the visualnarrative, the author develops a visual-narrative structure which is used to elicit a number of design requirements specifically for photorealistic VR. From this, a visual-narrative model is developed, and in a second study, it is demonstrated that the photorealistic VR environments designed with the visual-narrative model can, indeed, create more ‘engaging' experiences. In summary, this research provides a means by which the aesthetics of photorealistic VR (or other HCI technologies) might be strategically patterned and applied to the creation of various different types of ‘engaging' experiences. By describing the aesthetic-interaction and how it can be articulated through a visual-narrative model, the research not only successfully highlights the experiential side of photorealistic VR, but also advances the new ‘design' drive of HCI.

This thesis offers a cultural history of the Scots Renascence, a revival of Scottish identity and culture between 1880 and 1914, and demonstrates how heavily Scottish cultural nationalism in this period drew from, and was defined by, fin-de-siècle Decadence. Few cultural historians have taken the notion of a Scots Renascence seriously and many literary critics have styled the period as low point in the health of Scottish culture – a narrative which is deeply flawed. Others have portrayed Decadence as antithetical to nationalism (and to Scotland itself). The thesis challenges these characterisations and argues that there was a revival of Scottish identity in the period which drew from, and contributed to, Decadent critiques of 'civilisation' and 'progress'. The thesis considers literature alongside visual art, which were so interdependent around the 1890s. It focuses on three main cultural groups in Scotland (the circle that surrounded Patrick Geddes, the Glasgow School and writers of the Scottish Romance Revival) but it speaks to an even wider cultural trend. Together, the various figures treated here formed a loose movement concerned with reviving Scottish identity by returning to the past and challenging notions of improvement, utilitarianism and stadialism. The first chapter considers the cultural and historical background to the Scots Renascence and reveals how the writings of the Scottish Romance Revival critiqued stadialist narratives in order to lay the ground for a more unified national self. The second chapter demonstrates how important japonisme and the Belgian cultural revival were to the Scots Renascence: Scottish cultural nationalists looked to Japan and Belgium, amongst other nations, to gain inspiration and form a particular counter- hegemony. The final three chapters of the thesis explore how a unifying myth of origin was developed through neo-Paganism, how connections to an ancestral self were activated through occultism, and how such ideas of mythic origin and continuation were disseminated to wide audiences through pageantry. In doing so, the thesis charts the origins, development and dissemination of the Scots Renascence, while situating it within its historical and international contexts.

In referring to psychoanalyst and theorist Julia Kristeva‟s claim that the maternal body has no subject, this research aimed at finding answers to the following question: in what ways might a maternal subjectivity be understood through art practice? The research focused on three themes: fragmentation, invisibility and boundaries. Initially, these themes were researched in the context of the maternal body and the abject. The engagement with the maternal body has led to expanding the inquiry to include kibbutz childhood memory, in general, and bodily memories, in particular. This has led to revealing a childhood trauma. It was established that fragmentation, invisibility and questions of boundaries are rooted in trauma. Trauma has been further explored, to be revealed as a sequence of traumas, including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and intergenerational trauma, which span private and public spheres. The methodology research in action has been developed through the use of the „observer-participant‟ position, as well as the methods of persona and performative acts. Installation has been developed as a shared space, where traumatic memory has been re-visited and audience became witness. The research contributes to new knowledge in the field of trauma, in the contexts of maternal subjectivity, kibbutz childhood and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The text provides a critical reflection for the practice, both construct this research.

This practice based research focuses on events of the body, using the participating observer-researcher's experiences of medical events undertaken by her within a western medical environment to investigate her living existence as a 'unit', an 'experiencing corporeal body'. The project addresses a sharp awareness of body experienced by the researcher. It investigates this body in terms of the literal posthuman associated with Moravec, alongside the theoretical posthuman associated with Hayles where the 'defining characteristics involve the construction of subjectivity'. Using action research as the methodology and video installation as practice the project considers the position of the researcher in relationship to the medics, a situation of subject / object. With the female participating researcher as a given it becomes relevant to reference ideas from the ideals of feminism and to consider the question 'are women human?' The project produces evidence of change in the relationship of subject / object specific to this research when the researcher actively engages with attributes of the posthuman and it demonstrates how an altered emerging subject resulted from this engagement. There is a movement for the researcher from a liberal humanist subject to an emerging posthuman subject, an empowering and emancipating change.

The work of Ian Hamilton Finlay spans a fifty-year career, numerous media (many invented by Finlay himself) and thousands of years of Western history. Yet despite its range, it is the product of a singular artistic vision. The object of this thesis is to provide a philosophical and aesthetic framework through which Finlay’s work can be read comprehensively. Centred on the notion of the ‘non-secular’ – a term coined by Finlay in response to bureaucratic, social and artistic antagonisms – it proposes that Finlay’s entire body of work can be read as a project towards realisation of ‘non-secular’ awareness. This comprises, firstly, a longing for an ‘essential’ language and absolute truths, and a respect and reverence for those aspects of culture which strove to, if not discover, then construct and have faith in those truths. It also comprises, secondly and as a consequence, reconciliation with the fact that these absolutes can never be fully realised in the practice of everyday living. This prompts further reconciliation with the limits of our comprehension of the universe and, in the last analysis, our own mortality. This reconciliation is ‘non-secular’ insofar as it does not dispel, but rather emphasises, the notion of a ‘beyond’ inherent to these limits, without defining that ‘beyond’. Using the metaphor of a navigator’s compass, the thesis defines the borders of the ‘non-secular’ through study of Finlay’s work, his correspondence, and his relationship with his contemporaries and critics. It gathers together, develops and responds to previous criticism on Finlay in order to present a unified reading of the poet’s oeuvre which, though it cannot hope to cover every aspect, suggests how his work might best be approached, navigated and read. To this end, the thesis also draws from a number of philosophers working in the continental, hermeneutic tradition, who present ways of thinking the ‘non-secular’ which complement Finlay’s project and, in some cases, directly influence it. As the title would suggest, though the thesis explores Finlay’s work in all media, its locus is Stonypath/Little Sparta, the poet’s family home and magnum opus. Here, the tensions between life and art which give rise to the ‘non-secular’ are at their most palpable. Despite Finlay’s reputation as a visual and plastic artist, this thesis opens with the premise that his work is best approached as poetry, beginning with an extended Introduction which shows how Stonypath/Little Sparta develops from modernist poetry. Coining and defining the term ‘topographical poetics’ to describe Finlay’s site-specific works, it then constructs a formal and methodological approach for reading these ‘poems’. Preliminary discussion of the ‘non-secular’ follows, leading into a four-chapter structure concerned with sketching out the limits of the ‘non-secular compass’. The compass consists of four poles – the Poetic, the Homely, the Modern and the Classical – corresponding to Chapters One through Four respectively. Each pole serves as an absolute point by which to consider the idea of the ‘non-secular’. The exception is the Homely, a pragmatic anchor from which develops the ‘non-secular’ in its reconciliatory aspect and, ultimately, provides the unique foundation for Finlay’s work. This ‘non-secular compass’ is presented as a critical paradigm for reading Finlay. With the work itself, it may also be used as an interpretative tool which opens up to fresh and vital reflections on our comparatively ‘secularised’ existences.

Os efeitos produzidos pela interação da radiação ionizante com os circuitos integrados podem ser classificados em efeitos de eventos únicos (Single Event Effects - SEE), comumente relacionados a problemas transientes, e efeitos de dose total ionizante (Total Ionization Dose - TID), os quais se originam em decorrência do longo tempo de exposição à radiação ionizante. Com relação à proteção desses circuitos, técnicas, como redundâncias temporais e espaciais, podem ser aplicadas a fim de reduzir a ocorrência de eventos transientes. Por outro lado, efeitos de TID e mesmo alguns SEE específicos, como os que causam degradações permanentes do circuito, podem ser atenuados drasticamente através de técnicas propostas em nível de layout. Nesse contexto, este trabalho analisa os conceitos básicos envolvidos na interação da radiação com o transistor MOS, desvios de suas características elétricas e técnicas de atenuação dos efeitos acumulativos aplicadas em níveis de arquitetura de sistemas, de processo de fabricação e de dispositivo. Contudo, este trabalho realiza uma abordagem mais detalhada de técnicas de tolerância em nível de layout. A tolerância em nível de layout do transistor é o resultado da combinação entre tecnologia escolhida agregada ao uso de anéis de guarda (guard rings) e aplicação de técnicas em nível de dispositivo como, por exemplo, a de geometria fechada (enclosed-gate). Este trabalho explora diferentes topologias de geometria fechada analisando diferentes modelagens e estimativas de razão de aspecto (W⁄L). Além disso, todas as análises e propostas apresentadas ao longo deste trabalho levam em conta o ambiente de projeto comercial, de forma que os dispositivos e técnicas propostas possam ser aplicadas e fabricadas utilizando ferramentas de projeto comerciais, respeitando restrições quando a dimensões e espaçamentos entre estruturas de acordo com requisitos comerciais de litografia. Os resultados obtidos corroboram o fato de que ao custo de área é possível que se obtenha um dispositivo mais tolerante à radiação e, neste caso, técnicas de mais alto nível ainda podem ser aplicadas de forma a atingir uma maior eficiência de proteção. / Studies related to ionizing radiation effects into MOS transistors are usually classified into two main groups, Single Event Effects (SEE) and Total Ionization Dose (TID). The former is related to transient effects and the later to the permanent effects which occurs during the whole lifetime of integrated circuits and devices. Architecture level for SEE mitigation techniques usually involves redundancy and majority voters, on the other hand, TID mitigation techniques act avoiding or reducing the weak and critical regions in the layout perspective. In this context this work proposes the analysis of primary physical mechanisms of radiation effects in semiconductor components and MOS transistors by exploring the electrical properties and related degradations. The mitigation (or hardening) techniques are explored not only at the architectural level but also by processes improvements. Nonetheless, this work is primarily focused to achieve a radiation hardened circuit by applying specific changes in the layout perspective making the design named as Radiation Hardened by Design (RHBD). Trading the area and circuit density it is possible to harden the most basic building block of electrical circuits (MOS transistors) and, in this case, by applying higher levels of mitigation techniques it is even possible to harden the entire circuit. Hardening by device is a combination of technology node, use of guard rings and techniques such as Enclosed Layout Transistor (ELT). Thus, this work realizes a comparative study of different proposed models to estimate the effective W/L aspect ratio in ELTs. Moreover, the analysis and approaches presented throughout this work take into account the commercial context, i.e., respecting the commercial Process Design Kits rules.