This diploma thesis called The Railway Station - The Introduction of the Theme of Urban Landscape Shaped by the Industrial Revolution in Czech Painting of 1930s and 1940s is divided into two parts, theoretical and practical. The theoretical part deals with the czech painting of the thirties and fourties mainly. The painting of this period reacts on the development of the cities after the industrial revolution and the change of the stands. The new situation was reflected by the artists originally. The theoretical part is focused on Group 42 and its members mainly. The artists and their pieces of work show the issues of the progress. Both parts, practical part mainly, put the emphasis on the phenomenon of the railway station. The railway station is connected with the development of the cities and it serves for the transport of people and goods. There is the outlining of the problem of artistically captured everyday reality of man living in the city in this thesis, there is the differentation of abstract and concrete imaging and its interconnection. The practical part contains photos, sketches and final painting. The railway station is depicted in the painting. The problem of reality and abstract and concrete imaging are expressed in the painting.

In this study, a previously designed passive dynamic walker (PDW) is built out of aluminum and plastic. The aim of the study was to produce an asymmetrical PDW and to compare the results to a computer simulation to validate the mathematical model. It also aimed at identifying the limitations of using additive manufacturing to create components for a PDW as well as gain insights on asymmetric systems. Beginning with a five mass kneed model, parameters were varied to produce up to a nine mass kneed model solution. The nine mass model allows more variability in added mass locations and separates the zeroth, first, and second moments of inertia. To validate asymmetric gait, step length and step time of the prototype were compared to the simulation. The walker, unable to produce a steady gait, failed to match the asymmetric simulation. More than four times the amount of symmetric data was found compared to asymmetric data. Successful runs of symmetric gaits were approximately double than for asymmetric gaits. The reason for unequal successes is thought to be due to greater instability of asymmetric systems. This instability is thought to be due to inertia from a constant state of hanging motion. 3D printing proved useful in simplifying components and reducing waste but the polymers used did not have enough strength when mass was added to the system. Joining differing materials on the legs was difficult to keep in place. A smaller more robust design could solve these problems. This study focused on understanding physically asymmetric PDWs. These simple robots separate the neurological and mechanical controls of walking and are advantageous for studying physical parameters of human gait. Once a reliable asymmetric walker is built, further research could alter the foot shape or knee location to reverse the process, thus having a PDW walk symmetric. Once a walker is successfully reverted from walking asymmetrical to symmetrical, these parameters could be then applied to human subjects. An example of this would be for prosthetic foot design.

The climate response of the equatorial Pacific to increased greenhouse gases is investigated using numerical experiments from five climate models participating in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report. Changes in the heat budget of the surface layer in response to CO2 doubling (2xCO2) are analyzed in experiments with full-coupled ocean dynamics; and compared to experiments with uncoupled ocean dynamics. In full-coupled experiments, weaker ocean zonal currents driven by a slowing down of the Walker circulation reduce the ocean heat flux divergence throughout the equatorial Pacific. The resulting ocean dynamical heating enhances the surface warming due to increased clear-sky surface radiation in response to 2xCO2. The total radiative plus ocean dynamical heating are stabilized by evaporation and cloud feedbacks over the warm pool and by increased ocean vertical heat transport over the cold tongue. Increased near-surface thermal stratification enhances vertical heat transport in the cold tongue despite a reduction in vertical velocity. This ocean dynamical cooling is the dominant negative term in the heat budget changes over the eastern Pacific; and represents a strengthening of the processes leading to the annual cycle of the cold tongue, which increases by 0.4 K as a result. The stratification response is found to be a permanent feature of the equilibrium climate potentially linked to both thermodynamical and dynamical changes within the equatorial Pacific. To conclude, the relationship between the heat budget changes and the SST response is discussed along with implications for detecting these signals in the modern observational record.

Thesis (M.A.) -- University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 2006. / Title from title page screen (viewed on Feb. 8, 2007). Thesis advisor: Thomas Haddox. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Kara Walker, winner of the MacArthur “Genius” award and the Smithsonian Lucelia award, is one of the most critically acclaimed contemporary African American artists. Her work, especially her cut-paper silhouettes depicting grotesque antebellum scenes, has inspired as much outrage from an older generation of Black artists as acclaim from the mainstream media. This thesis gives an overview of the artist’s life, analysis of some of her works, and an examination of the controversy her work has caused. In the conclusion, I introduce the next generation of Black American artists, self-proclaimed “Art Stars,” including Atlanta artist Fahamu Pecou.

Walker Percy thought a paradigm for the modern age, human beings, and life does not exist, and no paradigm vying for supremacy (religion, scientism, new age physics and philosophies) succeeds. He sought to create a “radical anthropology” to describe human beings and life. His anthropology has existential roots and culminates in the philosophy and semeiotic of American pragmatist Charles Sanders Peirce. Unlike any other creature, humans have symbolic capacity, first manifested in a child’s naming and demonstrated in human being’s unique language ability, the ability to communicate through symbol and not just sign. Percy conveyed his anthropology in his last three novels through a number symbolism corresponding to the theme of each novel based on Peirce’s Cenopythagoreanism, viewing the world through the paradigm of number. In Lancelot, Percy uses the symbol of the inverted three to illustrate Lancelot’s inverted search for evil. In The Second Coming, he uses diamonds and squares and fours to illustrate community and authentic communication in the novel. In The Thanatos Syndrome, he uses twos and sixes to represent the search for dyadic solutions to triadic problems. Percy sees a synechistic and synchronistic interconnected “fabric of life” to the universe, enabled by human symbolic capacity, or Peirce’s concept of relations.

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In this thesis, after a general introduction, we first review some differential geometry to provide the mathematical background needed to derive the key equations in cosmology. Then we consider the Robertson-Walker geometry and its relationship to cosmography, i.e., how one makes measurements in cosmology. We finally connect the Robertson-Walker geometry to Einstein's field equation to obtain so-called cosmological Friedmann-Lemaître models. These models are subsequently studied by means of potential diagrams.

The development of the Flower Constellation theory offers an expanded framework to utilize constellations of satellites for tangible interests. To realize the full potential of this theory, the beta version of Bouquet was developed as a practical computer application that visualizes and edits Flower Constellations in a user-friendly manner. Programmed using C++ and OpenGL within the Qt software development environment for use on Windows systems, this initial version of Bouquet is capable of visualizing numerous user defined satellites in both 3D and 2D, and plot trajectories corresponding to arbitrary coordinate frames. The ultimate goal of Bouquet is to provide a viable open source alternative to commercial satellite orbit analysis programs. As such, the coding of Bouquet puts heavy emphasis on flexibility, upgradability and methods to provide continued support through open source collaboration.

Thesis (M.A.) in English--University of Maine, 2001. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 196-199).