“McLuhan’s Bulbs” argues that the 1960s movement of “light art” is the primary site of negotiation between the discourses of “medium” and “media” in postwar art. In dialogue with the contemporaneous work of Marshall McLuhan, who privileged electric light as the ur-example of media theory, light art eschewed the traditional symbolism of light in Western art, deploying it instead as a cipher for electronic media. By embracing both these new forms of electronic media and also McLuhan’s media theory, light art ultimately becomes a limit term of the Greenbergian notion of medium-specificity, heralding the transformation of “medium” into “media” on both a technological and a theoretical level. This leads to a new understanding of the concept of media as not peripheral, but rather, central to the history and theory of contemporary art. Drawing on extensive archival research to offer the first major history of light art, the project focuses in particular on the work of leading light artist Otto Piene, whose sculptural “light ballets,” “intermedia” environments, and early video projects responded to the increasing technological blurring of media formats by bringing together sound and image, only to insist on the separation between the two. Piene’s position would be superseded by the work of light artists who used electronic transducers to technologically translate between light and other phenomena, particularly sounds. These artists are represented here by Piene’s close friend and colleague, Wen-Ying Tsai. In the spirit of earlier examples of “computer art,” Tsai’s “cybernetic sculptures” used light to announce that art would no longer be defined by its material substrates, anticipating the fluid condition of media that we associate with new media art, and digital technology more broadly, today.

Please read the abstract in the dissertation Copyright / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / Chemical Engineering / unrestricted

In this work the possibility for using natural fiber-reinforced thermoplastics in highly loaded large surface structural elements is demonstrated. A production process to fabricate an inexpensive semi-finished material made of polypropylene and unidirectionally orientated natural fibers was developed. The feasibility of the process was proven for different fiber contents. In further examinations optimal parameters for processing the semi-finished material to produce composites by press forming were examined. With these optimal parameters composites have been fabricated that were tested for their static and dynamic properties. On the basis of the characteristic values of these examinations the field of application for natural fiber reinforced thermoplastics in use of large surface structural elements could be shown. As an example for such an element a rotor blade of a wind turbine with a length of 3,75 m was created. For a prediction of the behaviour of the loaded rotor blade the following load cases were simulated by means of the FEM: - 50-year gust, with a wind velocity of 50 m/s and standing rotor - Nominal load, with a wind velocity of 11 m/s and turning rotor. For an evaluation of the composite behaviour the Tsai Wu criterion was used, because of its capability to determine the failure condition under multi-axle stress. With these simulations it could be shown that it is theoretically possible to use natural fiber-reinforced thermoplastics as material for large surface structural elements. / In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurde eine Möglichkeit für die Verwendung von naturfaserverstärkten Thermoplasten in hochbelasteten großflächigen Strukturbauteilen aufgezeigt. Es wurde ein Verfahren entwickelt, welches die preiswerte Herstellung eines Halbzeuges aus Polypropylen und unidirektional ausgerichteten Naturfasern ermöglicht. Die Realisierbarkeit dieses Verfahrens konnte für verschiedene Naturfasergehalte nachgewiesen werden. In weiteren Untersuchungen wurden die optimalen Verarbeitungsparameter für die Herstellung von Faserverbunden aus diesem Halbzeug mittels der Presstechnik ermittelt. Mit diesen optimalen Parametern wurden Verbunde hergestellt und auf ihre statischen und dynamischen Eigenschaften geprüft. Auf Grundlage der in diesen Prüfungen ermittelten Kennwerte konnte die Einsatzmöglichkeit dieser naturfaserverstärkten Thermoplaste für ein großflächiges Strukturbauteil gezeigt werden. Als Beispiel für ein solches Bauteil wurde ein 3,75 m langes Rotorblatt einer Windkraftanlage entworfen. Um eine Aussage über das Verhalten des Rotorblattes unter Belastung treffen zu können, wurden folgende Lastfälle mit Hilfe der FEM simuliert: - 50-Jahres-Böe, mit Windgeschwindigkeit von 50 m/s und stehendem Rotor - Nennlast, mit Windgeschwindigkeit von 11 m/s und drehendem Rotor Für die Bewertung des Verbundverhaltens wurde das Tsai-Wu-Ausfallkriterium herangezogen, da es eine Aussage über das Bruchverhalten von Faserverbunden unter mehrachsiger Belastung erlaubt. Die Auswertung dieser Simulationen ergab, dass es theoretisch möglich ist, naturfaserverstärkte Thermoplaste als Werkstoff in großflächigen Strukturbauteilen einzusetzen.

This study focuses on the official political line of Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen. By conducting a qualitative text analysis in the form of a structured, focused comparative study on President Tsai’s National Day addresses over the period of 2018-2022. The chosen research questions of the study are; how are President Tsai Ing-wen’s official statements on the diplomatic relation to China presented in the National Day Addresses over the period 2018-2022 and to what extent do they differ? And how is Taiwan's National Unity presented by President Tsai Ing-wen in the National Day Addresses over the period 2018-2022 and to what extent do they differ? The study deemed the themes China, ‘Us’ and ‘ Them’ and National Unity to be of importance. Furthermore, the conclusion showed that President Tsai's National Day addresses seem to have adapted to the increase of severity in threats that Taiwan faces over time. As the threats from China have grown more severe, but also as the world faced a pandemic, economic difficulties and other major conflicts world wide. Finally, President Tsai referenced Taiwan's international allies increasingly over the years. Emphasizing the importance of like minded democratic allies to strengthen Taiwan’s National Unity and security.

民主成為一股全球性的潮流，帶動女性在缺席以久的政治場域上的出現和積極參與。從1960年斯里蘭卡誕生第一位民選女性總理開始，近半個世紀以來世界各國紛紛出現女性領導人。台灣於1996年首度舉行總統直選，2016年選出首位女性總統蔡英文，這樣的發展對台灣的性別平權有重大意義。本研究旨在透過文獻分析與深度訪談來分析，蔡英文身為一位女性在台灣的脈絡下成為首位女性國家領導人的條件；研究結果發現，政治機會、社會文化與個人資本是女性從政的重要條件。豐沛的個人資本奠定蔡英文政治參與的基礎，也是她進入合格人才庫及參選人才庫的要件；其次，即使具有高教育程度與專業經歷等條件，蔡英文的出場一開始仍然受到「男性不在場」的性別框架限制，但政治機會的出現與把握是她能夠突破參選人才庫的天花板成為民進黨內最高權力者的主因；最後，台灣社會性別文化由排斥女性參政逐漸轉變為鼓勵女性參政甚至欣賞女性政治菁英特質，也成為蔡英文當選總統的重要脈絡條件。本研究最後認為，以蔡英文為個案來探討台灣女性菁英的政治參與的重要意義在於進一步觀察，蔡英文成為首位女性國家領導人是否有助於提升台灣社會整體性別意識、改變父權的社會結構與文化，最終達成多數甚至全體台灣女性的解放。 / Against the background of global trend of democracy, women appear to be more active in the field of politics and public sphere where they have been absent for a long time. Since the election of the first ever female national leader in Sri Lanka in 1960, we have seen more democratically-elected female leaders around the world. Taiwan held its first direct presidential election in 1996, and elected its first female president Tsai Ing-wen in 2016. This is certainly a notable achievement as far as the pursuit of gender equality in Taiwan is concerned. Through literature analysis and in-depth interview and using Tsai Ing-wen as its case, this study seeks to explore the conditions, institutional as well as cultural, conducive to political empowerment and participation of female elites in the context of Taiwan. It is found that political opportunity, women-friendly culture, and personal capital are important for understanding the success of women in politics. In the case of Tsai, abundant personal capital lays the foundation for her participation in the government and in party politics. Which helps her enter ‘the pools of eligibles and of candidates.’ Despite the various forms of capital Tsai has enjoyed, political opportunities were only available for Tsai when “male are absent” specifically within her party, the Democratic Progressive Party. Last but not the least, an emerging more women-friendly culture among the society in Taiwan also contributes to Tsai’s success in politics. This study concludes that the contribution and value of studying the case of Tsai to discuss the elite women 's political participation in Taiwan lie in first, exploring the conditions that help female elites break the glass ceiling in traditionally male-dominate field of politics; and secondly, emphasizing that the election of Tsai as Taiwan’s first ever female president will only be truly meaningful for the pursuit of gender equality when the society’s gender consciousness is enhanced, patriarchal structure and culture changed, and most if not all women liberated.

Assessment of finger range of motion (ROM) is often required for monitoring the effectiveness of rehabilitative treatments and for evaluating patients' functional impairment. There are several devices which are used to measure this motion, such as wire tracing, tracing onto paper and mechanical and electronic goniometry. These devices are quite cheap, excluding electronic goniometry; however the drawbacks of these devices are their lack of accuracy and the time- consuming nature of the measurement process. The work described in this thesis considers the design, implementation and validation of a new medical measurement system utilized in the evaluation of the range of motion of the human finger joints instead of the current measurement tools. The proposed system is a non-contact measurement device based on computer vision technology and has many advantages over the existing measurement devices. In terms of accuracy, better results are achieved by this system, it can be operated by semi-skilled person, and is time saving for the evaluator. The computer vision system in this study consists of CCD cameras to capture the images, a frame-grabber to change the analogue signal from the cameras to digital signals which can be manipulated by a computer, Ultra Violet light (UV) to illuminate the measurement space, software to process the images and perform the required computation, a darkened enclosure to accommodate the cameras and UV light and to shield the working area from any undesirable ambient light. Two calibration techniques were used to calibrate the cameras, Direct Linear Transformation and Tsai. A calibration piece that suits this application was designed and manufactured. A steel hand model was used to measure the fingers joint angles. The average error from measuring the finger angles using this system was around 1 degree compared with 5 degrees for the existing used techniques.

本論文旨在以「作者論」來觀察導演蔡明亮作品，進而發現其電影中所隱含的「現代性」。在進入導演所經營的電影場域之前，先行從文獻中了解現代性起源與特質，由於現代性經驗範圍十分廣泛，為免後續分析過於零散，在此將現代性經驗侷限於現代化後對於「環境」、「時空」、「人際關係」、「家庭倫理」、「個人情欲」等影響。 緊接著現代性經驗與特質之後，再從現代主義等文藝活動，說明「現代性」與現代主義電影關係，並思考蔡明亮作品在台灣現代主義所處版圖位置。從現代性起源，現代主義、一直到現代主義電影，論文主體建構在社會學基礎上，並旁及當代現代性文藝創作。 理論基礎確立後，旋進入以「作者論」為主的論述。在蔡明亮成長過程中，馬來西亞故鄉生長經驗與台北異鄉漂泊經驗均對其作品產生某種程度影響，而他大學時期的劇場演出更預示日後創作；了解導演個人的生平事略後，再回歸電影文本，從「環境」、「時空」、「人際關係」、「家庭倫理」、「個人情欲」等之前探討的現代性議題著手，從中探討蔡明亮電影中隱含的現代性議題。 在「環境」、「時空」兩節中發現，在蔡明亮影片中不時出現劇中人以「漫遊」穿梭過城市，而這□的城市也如同黑色電影般呈現出陰鬱不明。兩者互相搭配下，漫遊者在漫遊間讓己身與城市脫軌，在「不存在」中進而感受到城市的存在，而這樣的存在又建立在蔡明亮以燈光、聲音、影像所建立的陰鬱城市。 「人際關係」、「家庭倫理」、「個人情欲」等後續分析，觀察到其作品中三者關係密切，個人情欲的壓抑與人際疏離有關，而這一切卻又和家庭變革不可分離，交互影響下進而呈現出現代人面臨無助與寂寞。 研究結果發現，自《青少年哪吒》（Rebels of the Neon God）以來，蔡明亮的作品，外在時空總是支離破碎；而在內在的情感表達上，家庭內部則是充滿紛爭、人與人之間無法真正溝通，而藉著多元的情欲表達，更呈現出個人存在的荒謬。 而在電影語言上則可歸納敘事薄弱（poor narrate）、不重視電影配樂及強調長鏡頭跟拍（long shot）等特點，綜合以上種種特質。他電影呈現類似安東尼奧尼（Michelangelo Antonioni）等現代主義電影風格，更表現出急速現代化下，人與人之間無助的疏離感。 / The present paper aims to survey the films directed by Ming-Liang Tsai from the perspective of auteur theory, and to explore the modernity concealed in the films. The research will introduce the auteur theory first in the first chapter. Before entering the discussion on Tsai’s films, the second chapter will examine the origin and specialties of the modernity from the literatures. To avoid the following discussions being too fragmentary, the experiences of the modernity in this paper are emphasized on the analyses of “the environment”, “time and space”, “interpersonal relation”, “the family ethics”, and “the private sex”. Next, the paper explains the relationship between modernity and modernism film with modernism and other art activities, and tries to locate Ming-Liang Tsai’s films on the domain of modernism. The explanation is based on the sociology theory, modernity literature and art activities, stretching from the origin of the modernity, the modernism, to the modernism films. The third chapter will focus on Tsai’s growing-up in Malaysia and most of the adulthood in Taipei. The special experience has exerted some degree of influences on his films. Tsai’s participation in theater performance in college also helps his later creative works. With these understandings of the director, this paper traces back to the context of Tsai’s films and attempts to explore the modernity in his films from the points of “the environment “, “time and space”, “interpersonal relation”, “the family ethics”, and “the private sex” respectively. In analyses of “the environment” and “time and space” in Tsai’s films, the characters are found to wander all the time through the city as gloomy as in film noir. Such a wandering makes these characters deviate from the city and further aware of the city – a typical Tsai’s city that is designated to be so dim and depressing by stage light, sound and images. The following chapter will analyze “interpersonal relation”, “the family ethics”, and “the private sex” in Tsai’s films – It starts with the relevance of the alienation from the society and the depression of the private sex. Such relevance can in turn be attributed to the reform of modern household. – With these interactive elements, Ming-Ling Tsai expresses the helpless and loneliness of modern people. In the final chapter, the research has a summary about Tsai’s works. Most of his films can be characterized by an external appearance of incoherent time lines and environmental settings and an internal expression of struggles inside the family as well as failures of the connection to other people since the movie “Rebels of the Neon God”. Moreover, the complicated sensual encounters running through the movies demonstrate the absurdity of individual existence. In addition, poor narrations, an ignorance of incidental music and an emphasis of long shots can be seen as a common language employed in his movies. The integration of these elements in his movies manifests a modernist style like those films directed by Michelangelo Antonioni and further displays the desperate alienation between people in the speeding modernization.

2012年總統大選，民進黨的「三隻小豬」運動，堪稱是台灣選舉史上前所未見的造勢動員模式，此一「大事件」甚至破天荒，在2016年總統大選繼續沿用，因此本研究聚焦： 　　一、「三隻小豬」之事件發展，起源於台南三胞胎孩童把存在小豬撲滿裡的零錢，捐獻給要參選2012年總統的蔡英文，竟然在民進黨總統大選過程中，成為競選過程的「大事件」。二、「三隻小豬」之策略形成，民進黨如何運用這個「綠營最有效的募款工具」，在競選過程中，募得高達2.012億台幣的政治獻金。三、「三隻小豬」之媒體評論，以東森新聞報導為研究文本，2012選戰中，報導三隻小豬的則數，是平安福的將近四倍之多。三隻小豬，讓民進黨獲得的免費廣告效益，估計在10至20億台幣之間。 本研究者因為職務之故，能貼身採訪蔡英文陣營，因此採用「參與觀察、深度訪談」兩種研究方法，獲得第一手的訊息資料，再就東森新聞選舉過程中所報導「蔡英文」和「三隻小豬」的97篇相關文稿進行「內容分析」。 根據卡方檢定和ANOVA檢定的分析結果，本研究發現在蔡英文競選過程中，有三項值得觀察的顯著差異。並歸納出「三隻小豬」運動，此一大事件，具備不同於以往選舉的六大特色，包括：創新性、象徵性、互動性、在地性、參與性、持續性等。 / In the 2012 presidential election, The DPP’s Three Little Pigs campaign was so called the history of Taiwan's unprecedented mobilization election campaign. Four years later, in the 2016 presidential election, this “Mega Event” is to be continued, so this study highlights: First, the "Three Little Pigs" event that originated in Tainan, triplets’ children save money in a piggy bank, they donated the changes to the 2012 presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen, set off political waves in the DPP election process unexpected. Second, how the "Three Little Pigs" policy formed, DPP proper use of this "come out of the gift," during the campaign, they raised up to NT$ 201.2 million in political contributions. Three Little Pigs can be described as the most effective fund-raising tool for the Green Camp. Third, the media covering regarding "Three Little Pigs" campaign, take the ETTV new scripts as study texts, during the 2012 election campaign, the number of covering stories in the Three Little Pigs is four times more than Ma Ying-jeou’s lucky charm. The DPP obtained about NT$ 1 to 2 billion free advertising effectiveness via Three Little Pigs movement. It is because of the researchers’ position; the researcher was able to interview Tsai camp closely. This research adopted "participant observation, in-depth interviews," these two methods, to obtain first-hand information and message. The researcher did "content analysis", to analyze 97 ETTV news stories regarding to "Tsai Ing-wen" and "The Three Little Pigs," in the presidential election. According to the analysis results of the chi-square test and ANOVA test, this study found that when Tsai Ing-wen was running for presidential campaign, there are three significant differences worth observing. Meanwhile, to conclude "The Three Little Pigs" mega event campaign, there are six characteristics different from previous elections, including: innovation, symbolic, interaction, localization, participation, sustainability and so on.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T14:58:19Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 EduardoCBC_DISSERT.pdf: 1858317 bytes, checksum: de7993f7a4a27b8a08342ddc43175aff (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-12-14 / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior / The aim of this study is to create an artificial neural network (ANN) capable of modeling the transverse elasticity modulus (E2) of unidirectional composites. To that end, we used a dataset divided into two parts, one for training and the other for ANN testing. Three types of architectures from different networks were developed, one with only two inputs, one with three inputs and the third with mixed architecture combining an ANN with a model developed by Halpin-Tsai. After algorithm training, the results demonstrate that the use of ANNs is quite promising, given that when they were compared with those of the Halp?n-Tsai mathematical model, higher correlation coefficient values and lower root mean square values were observed / Este trabalho tem como principal objetivo a cria??o de uma arquitetura de rede neural artificial (RNA) capaz de modelar o m?dulo de elasticidade transversal (E2) de comp?sitos unidirecionais. Para tanto, se fez necess?rio o uso de um conjunto de dados que foi dividido em duas partes, uma parte sendo utilizada para o treinamento e a outra para teste das RNA. Para este trabalho se desenvolveu tr?s tipos de arquiteturas de rede diferentes uma delas possuindo somente duas entradas, a outra tr?s entradas e a ?ltima foi uma arquitetura mista que combina uma RNA com um modelo desenvolvido por Halpin-Tsai. Ap?s o treinamento dos algoritmos, os resultados demonstram que o uso de RNAs se mostra bastante promissor, j? que quando esses resultados foram comparados com o modelo matem?tico de Halpin-Tsai, apresentaram maiores valores de coeficiente de correla??o e menores valores de erro m?dio quadr?tico

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