Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Human condition'

Mind-wandering was until recently not a mainstream topic of research. The aim of this literature review is to present current views on the definition of mind-wandering and how the phenomenon is experienced. Furthermore, it gives an account of the implications of mind-wandering on cognitive performance, as well as its neurological correlates. In addition, the methods used to study mind-wandering are reviewed.The study of mind-wandering reveals a highly frequent phenomenon with practical consequences on a broad scale, both disruptive and supportive to goal-related behaviour and wellbeing in general. Originating from the default network, and its regions related to representations of self, memory, Theory of Mind, empathy and creativity, mind-wandering is hypothesized to be a function for planning one’s future life. Suggested further research concerns how mind-wandering can be countered, detected from the outside and whether it alters the physical feature of the brain.

Thesis advisor: Patrick H. Byrne
It has been held in philosophical practice that some matters of reflection have more import than others, and that some are so significant that they may be termed "first philosophy." In contemporary Continental philosophy, the term "event" has become a watchword for a profound change in the orientation of philosophic thought. Indeed, one may say that the discourse surrounding events marks the first decisive development in philosophy since Martin Heidegger penned Being and Time. This is not to say, however, that any consensus has emerged concerning either the character of events, or more importantly what they entail for the meaning of human historical consciousness. To provide such statements, ones that have at least a relative superiority with respect to their rivals, might thus be considered the basic task for first philosophy today. It is to accomplish this double aim that the present work is devoted. These two tasks, articulating the character of events and their significance for human historical consciousness, are here assayed by a movement that is itself double, by a movement of suspicion and affirmation. In the specific case, the present work undertakes a retrieval of Heidegger's understanding of "Ereignis" (or event) after passing through a hermeneutics of suspicion, posed by the criticisms of the contemporary French philosopher Alain Badiou, and returning to an articulation of "Emergence" as a complementary hermeneutics of affirmation. The method by which I undertake this inquiry is what may be called an "infinite hermeneutics," which I intend to be opposed to "finite hermeneutics." By this latter program, "finite hermeneutics," I mean any form of philosophical hermeneutics that is committed to the thesis that human understanding (Verstehen) is finite, or that the objective of inquiry itself is finite, or both of these points. The thesis that human understanding is finite may be found in Kant's proposal that human knowing is distinct from divine knowledge in the respect that human knowing is dependent on receptive intuition, and thus finite, while infinite knowledge is founded on a productive intuition. In the relevant sense, I argue, it may also be found in Heidegger's own thought. One of the major points of the present investigation is to demonstrate in what way a commitment to finitude is highly problematic, and that human knowing, human comprehension, and even the very character of what is known is not finite in any relevant sense. The motivation for such a departure is provided by the criticisms of Badiou, which are here treated as a moment of suspicion. I begin the work with a "Prolegomenon," which reviews in detail the specific challenge Badiou has posed for phenomenological hermeneutics, or any other philosophical position that is committed to the notion that human thought or understanding is finite. As a "Prolegomenon," however, nothing positive for my own position is accomplished there; instead the net result of the study is to produce: (a) an argument against Heideggerian finite hermeneutics, (b) a summary critique of the Badiou's own position, and (c) a clear statement on the eight separate tasks that I set out to accomplish in the argument that follows. The positive aspect of the text, the beginning of the movement of affirmation, thus occurs in "Part I: Infinite Hermeneutics," in which I present a defense of phenomenological hermeneutics as a viable philosophical method. In chapter three I begin by drawing on the work of Paul Ricoeur. My argument is that he is both the very first philosopher to articulate an infinite hermeneutics, and that this account, suitably elaborated throughout his career, is able to meet most of the specific challenges Badiou poses. There does remain, however, three separate points that Ricoeur's thought does not fully explore. In order to remedy those deficiencies, and in order to demonstrate the relative advantage of my hermeneutical position with respect to its competitors, I thus move to produce a new model for hermeneutical thought. Articulating the conditions for this model is the task for chapter four. My task here resolves into three parts. First, I argue for a Galoisian Revolution in phenomenological study, which sets forth a new between hermeneutics and phenomenology study. This relation, second, requires a rearticulation of phenomenological method such that it is "impersonal," as Jean-Paul Sartre's early work suggests. Additionally this relation, third, requires that one be attentive to the structures of consciousness, which is what completes the Galoisian Revolution. In order to support my account of an impersonal phenomenology I engage the contemporary Anglo-American discussions in the philosophy of mind concerning the character of first-person consciousness. In order to specify what is intended by a structure of first-person consciousness, provide a provisional phenomenology of eros. In chapter five I move to articulate the structure of consciousness that serves as the third model for phenomenological hermeneutics. It is at this point that I engage with the work of Bernard Lonergan. My central contention in chapter five is that it is possible to retrieve Longergan's work on cognitional structure as a phenomenology of inquiry for hermeneutical purposes. Taken together, these points, the Ricoeurean defense of hermeneutics, the development of an impersonal phenomenology, and the retrieval of a phenomenology of inquiry, form the hard core of my proposal for infinite hermeneutics. "Part II: On Worlds" concerns the fruits that I can reap from the harvest sown in Part I. In particular, I aim to develop an ecological sense of worlds in response to Badiou's category-theoretic and Heidegger's (early) existential world. My argument moves from an ecological account of natural worlds (chapter six), through a signifying account human worlds (chapter seven), to an account of human historical consciousness and a consideration of catastrophes such as the Shoah and the Encounter (chapter eight). In each of these chapters I focus on developing an account of different kinds of Events, with the aim not only of providing a more serviceable account than my rivals, but also with the hopes of providing a new and better picture of world process. The final section, "Part III: The Metaphysics of Excess" expresses the central Metaphysical claims of the work, especially those concerning Events and the peculiar form I call Emergence. This chapter, in short, constitutes the moment of affirmation in response to the moment of suspicion occasioned by Badiou's criticism of phenomenological hermeneutics. Additionally, however, I produce an argument for the intelligible relation of cosmic space and time with human (lived) space and time, a statement on the new forms of causation entailed by the possibility of Events, and a new account of Truth (to rival Badiou and Heidegger's). The work closes with a summary review of what I have achieved and what yet remains to be accomplished. Though as the title of the conclusion suggests, its main aim is to provide a new statement on the world-view that I work to articulate over the course of the investigation. That world-view, and this is the justification for the subtitle of the present work, is the trans-modern condition, which articulates the existential character of our modern globalized world
Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2011
Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Discipline: Philosophy

William Shakespeare’s Macbeth is colored with religious overtones. His play incorporates elements of religious beliefs of Renaissance England. Aside from its historical basis, Shakespeare’s Macbeth alludes to stories from Scripture as well as Renaissance religious practices and beliefs, particularly regarding witchcraft, prophecy, and the dangers of sin. Through this myriad of sources, Shakespeare offers a vivid and grotesque depiction of a man demise due to his involvement with sin, offering a profound caution to his audience of the dangers of temptation and sin.

Pour progresser sans cesse, guérir ou accroitre les connaissances, le prélèvement d’origine humaine devient le support de la recherche. Celui-ci réunit alors une diversité de réalités médicales et juridiques.De plus, l’évolution historique et médicale a transcendé la matérialité du corps pour devenir immatérialité de l’être. Le polymorphisme de l’objet le rend complexe et connexe à d’autres disciplines pour en déterminer ses fins. D’un tableau du prélèvement, il faut alors en dessiner les contours, les cadres pour en préciser les usages : sans structure pas d’ossature. Son intérêt dans la recherche comme sa nature rendent essentiel l’encadrement de son utilisation. De cette ambivalence de l’outil scientifique s’associe celle de l’outil juridique qui fonde l’équilibre dans son usage. Celui-ci doit s’accommoder. D’une part des nouvelles résonances juridiques du corps, marquées de la distanciation qui s’opère en fait en en droit entre le prélevé et le prélèvement. D’autre part des progrès de la science, dont les connaissances dépassent notre essence risquant de faire perdre alors à la société tout son sens
To increase permanently the knowledge of the Science, the human sample becomes the basis of the Research. Indeed, it symbolizes the scales of the diversity embodied by the medicine and the law. Moreover, the evolution of the medical history allows the body through its materiality to become an immateriality with this spirit and the numeric. The object, which is the body, is complex and attached to lots of different fields that determine its aims. The painting of the human sample is drawn. To go further this thesis will try to lay the foundations of the rules of the human sample. This Research will try to fix the structure of the sample to find the rules and the procedure of the human sample thanks to the law. Without skeleton, no human sample. This is merely bare bone. The interest of the human sample as its nature itself is essential to characterize its interest and the process of its utility. Thanks to this dual image ¬ legal and medical ¬ of the human sample we can find a balance for its using. On one hand to be well-balance the human sample must adapt itself to the new laws taking into account the difference between the status of the human and the status of the human sample. On the other hand, the human sample is just a small thing compared with the financial or scientist stakes due to the globalization. What is the real place of the human sample then ?

The risk analysis process involving information acquisition, modeling, analysis, and decision steps result in system design improvement. To allow an accurate and active system risk assessment in road transportation, this study identifies the contributing factors in reliability of road transportation systems and develops the systematic and stochastic methodologies and mathematical models. The developed models and methodologies aim to assess the reliability and risk of drivers interacting with the today’s typical vehicles equipped with Advanced Drivers Assistance System (ADAS) and Passive Safety Systems (PSS) with any degree of complexity and availability of such systems. The research further examines and addresses the specific needs of such vulnerable users and perhaps risk to others on roads including older drivers, younger drivers and pedestrians. The research presents the conditions monitoring concepts as in-vehicle tools for live assessment of risk state of drivers built on the methodologies and models developed in the studies. The necessity for availability of good data and specific databases for purpose of risk assessment in road transportation is then highlighted and stressed. The complete procedure for accident investigation and data collection is developed and presented in the research and a conceptual model for a typical human centered reliability databases in road transportation is also developed. The research is novel and innovative and expected to pave the way for improvement and development of new risk mitigating systems and better assessment and monitoring of the safety of users on roads and with the capability of information sharing resulting in saving many lives worldwide.

Thesis (Honors)--Ohio State University, 2006.
Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages: contains 56 p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 55-56). Available online via Ohio State University's Knowledge Bank.

Within the text of The Human Condition, Hannah Arendt circumscribes the concept of natality in ways that tend to conflate its biological, historical, institutional and phenomenological dimensions. This dissertation seeks to clarify this concept and the conceptual territory that surrounds it. Specifically, it is argued that Arendt’s construction of the concept of natality is inherently dual. Each person is delivered into a worldly environment through her primary, biological birth. As soon as she is born, she begins to be conditioned to the accepted normative standards of her community. A gap necessarily exists, however, between the person she is socio-culturally conditioned to be, and who she is explicitly, uniquely and authentically. When deeds and words are employed in service of revealing someone’s individual identity or essence, and thereby showing her to be more than simply a mirror of her cultural conditioning, it heralds a second birth, one which is existential instead of biological. According to Arendt, this existential natality must take place in the presence of other existential agents, and also may be witnessed by a spectator who then seeks to express the significance of what has occurred to those removed from the original event either by space and/or time. This expression takes the form of artifactual objects, including works of art, architectural monuments and various forms of narratives. Arendt’s theory concerning the creation of these objects contains two major problems that are critically addressed within this project. The first problem concerns the spectator’s capacity for making judgments. Works written after The Human Condition are shown to demonstrate Arendt’s attempts to address this issue. The second problem concerns the way in which Arendt portrays the issue of embodiment. This issue must be reconciled both by appealing to work from within her canon, as well as through the introduction of recent scholarship from the field of social cognition. The project concludes with the presentation of a concrete, historical example intended to be illustrative of the preceding theoretical material.

I read Sidney’s romance, the New Arcadia, in the light of a particular ethos known as Philippism after the followers of Philip Melanchthon, the Protestant theologian. In doing so, I use a critical paradigm previously only used to discuss Sidney’s Defence of Poesy. Thus, building on the work of Robert E. Stillman, I narrow the gap that critics, such as Gavin Alexander, have often found between Sidney’s theory and literary practice. Like the Philippists, peculiarly open to the ideas of humanist scholarship, Sidney draws his philosophical precepts from an eclectic mix of sources. These various strands of philosophical, political and theological thought are accommodated within the New Arcadia, which conforms to the kind of literature praised by Melanchthon for its life-like heterogeneity and its examples of virtue. Sidney’s characters have generally been thought to symbolize a passive form of Christian Stoicism. I contend that they, in fact, respond to their misfortunes in a way that demonstrates an active outlook. Employing the same philosophy, Sidney, both in his letter intervening in Queen Elizabeth’s marriage negotiations and in his politically-interested fiction, arrogates to himself the role of court counsellor. As such, he is a model for his sister and Fulke Greville in their later roles as literary patron and courtier, respectively. The primary inheritor of Sidney’s political and cultural legacy, Robert Devereux, despite being associated with court factionalism, also draws, I argue, on the optimistic and conciliatory philosophy signified by Sidney’s New Arcadia. Sidney’s romance affirms its author’s piety, in which human fallibility is recognized and tolerated. Amphialus represents Sidney’s ethos most poignantly. An epic, martial figure, Amphialus also participates in the most dishonourable activities in the romance. Through the representation of this apparently irredeemable character, who, nevertheless, will be saved, Sidney displays his faith in God’s Providence and his own salvation.

In eukaryotic cells, ionizing radiation (IR) induces damages to proteins, lipids and DNA, directly or indirectly, as a result of free radical formation. Among the numerous types of DNA lesions, the double-strand breaks (DSBs) are particularly important, since an inefficient or inaccurate repair may lead to cell death or genomic instability. The presence of DSBs leads to a complex DNA damage response, consisting in a cascade of cellular events, which involve sensing the damage, signal transduction to the effectors of DNA repair, cell cycle arrest and apoptosis induction. In mammals, a very early step in the cellular response to DSBs is the phosphorylation of the histone H2AX (γ-H2AX) at the sites of DNA damage by members of the phosphatidylinositol-3-OH kinase (ATM, DNA-PK and ATR). This event plays a critical role in the recruitment of signaling–repair proteins (i.e 53BP1, Mre11, Rad50, Nbs1) to the sites of damage to form the ionizing radiation-induced foci (IRIF), which contain hundreds to thousands of proteins. DNA damage and repair can be quantified in individual cells by monitoring the kinetics of formation and disappearance of IRIF that accumulate at sites of DSBs; in particular, the rate of loss of γ-H2AX foci correlates with the progression of DSB repair. Cell signaling events in response to ionising radiation depend on environmental conditions occurring during DNA repair, besides genetic and physiological features of the biological systems. For this reason we have studied and compared the human cell response to IR in different gravity conditions, normal gravity as on Earth and reduced gravity as in space environment where exposure to cosmic radiation during space missions is associated to the reduction of gravitational force, which is approximately 10-4-10-6g. Indeed, space environment is characterized by the presence of ionizing radiation in the form of charged atomic particles travelling at close to the speed of light, which represents the most significant factor limiting humans’ ability to participate in long-duration space missions, and also by a condition of weightlessness called microgravity. As reported in literature, microgravity effects on astronauts include: immune cell function suppression, skeletal muscle atrophy, cardiovascular problems and loss of calcium and minerals from bone. In-flight cell cultures and ground models of microgravity showed inhibition of lymphocyte proliferation, suppression or alteration in cytokine secretion, modifications of cytoskeleton, and also increase of chromosome aberrations and apoptosis. The question whether radiation effects are influenced by microgravity is still open and it is an important point in the risk estimation of space missions. In our experiments, microgravity condition was obtained in laboratory using of the bioreactor “Rotating Wall Vessel” (Synthecon, Inc., Houston, Texas), which simulates the weightlessness, an aspect of spaceflights. This condition is called “modeled microgravity” (MMG). In the first part of this project, DSB rejoining was investigated in human PBL irradiated with γ-rays and incubated in 1g or MMG during repair time. Formation and disappearance of γ-H2AX foci were monitored at various times after irradiation by in situ immunofluorescence; in the same samples the apoptotic index and the DNA fragmentation were determined, the last one was measured by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and the fraction of DNA released in the gel (FR) was considered as a measure of DSBs. Results obtained provided evidences that MMG incubation during repair time affected cell survival, apoptosis and delayed DSB rejoining, increasing the genotoxic effects of ionising radiation. On the base of these evidences, we investigated if ionizing radiation and modeled microgravity could have an effect on cells focusing on the expression profile of microRNAs: negative regulators of gene expression. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a recently discovered class of small (~22nt) endogenously expressed translational-repressor RNAs that play a key role in many cellular pathways. In animal cells, these molecules bind to complementary sequences in the 3’-untraslated region (3’UTR) of the target messenger RNAs (mRNAs) of protein-coding genes, to direct their translational repression. For this reason, miRNAs have been implicated in numerous biological processes including developmental timing, cell fate decisions, cell death and proliferation, stem cell function, tumorigenesis and disease. Aim: The aims of this project were: i) to analyze the efficiency of DNA repair occurring in modeled microgravity culture conditions focusing on DSBs repair kinetics; ii) to investigate if ionizing radiation and modeled microgravity could have a synergistic action on human cells by comparing radio-responsive miRNA in ground gravity and MMG. Activity carried out: The presence of nuclear γ-H2AX foci and the apoptotic index were monitored by in situ immunofluorescence and western blot in not- and γ-irradiated Peripheral Blood Lymphocytes (PBL), at 0.5, 2, 6 and 24h from irradiation, in 1g and MMG. In the same samples was studied the DSBs repair analyzing the fraction of DNA released (FR) after Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), this value was calculated either by measuring optical density of DNA migrating in the gel and by quantity of DNA (ng) retained in the plug/wells. MiRNA expression profile of human PBL, irradiated with γ-rays (0.2-2Gy) and incubated in MMG and in parallel 1g condition, was examined through “Human miRNA microarray Kit V2” (Agilent) and quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR). In addition, we used “Whole Human Genome Oligo Microarray” (Agilent) to determine the gene expression profile, in the same PBL analysed for miRNA profiling, with the aim to identify the most likely miRNA targets by integration of miRNA and mRNA expression data in an anti-correlation analysis. Finally, to identify biological pathways most involved in radiation cell response we performed a Gene Ontology (GO) analysis, on significant anti-correlated target genes identifying biological pathways significantly enriched (P<0.05). Results and conclusions: Results obtained in the study of nuclear γ-H2AX foci in irradiated PBL showed that the mean number of foci/nucleus during a short-repair time was comparable in 1g and MMG. At later times the decrease of foci number was significantly different; indeed, PBL incubated in 1g at 24h after irradiation showed 2 foci/nucleus, instead those incubated in MMG showed a mean of 6.4 foci/nucleus at the same time-points. To verify whether the disappearance of γ-H2AX foci correlated with the rejoining of double strand breaks, we subjected irradiated PBL, incubated in 1g or MMG, to PFGE assay. We found that in cells incubated in MMG, FR was higher than in 1g (77% vs. 33% at 2 h and 50% vs. 17% at 6 h, respectively). Summarizing, MMG probably affects the chromatin structure modulation that occurs after DSB formation, decreasing the efficiency of DNA repair. Thus, DSB rejoining that is almost completed in few hours in normal culture conditions, could take more time in MMG. In second part of the project we focused on miRNA expression profile analysis of γ- irradiated PBL incubated in 1g and MMG. Our results showed that radiation affected miRNA expression profile according to the dose and the time after irradiation, in both gravity conditions. Exposure to γ-rays in 1g altered miRNA expression profile at early and late time points (4h and 24h), with more responsive miRNAs at 24h after high irradiation dose (2Gy). In particular, the 20 radio-responsive miRNAs common to 0.2Gy and 2Gy of treatment showed a time dependent expression pattern, with a general down-regulation at 4h and up-regulation at 24h after irradiation. Human PBL incubated in MMG after γ-irradiation showed miRNA expression profile alteration higher at 24h than at 4h, in both irradiation doses. Interestingly, in non-irradiated PBL, 24h of MMG incubation altered the expression profile of 42 miRNA species respect to 1g. At the end, comparing the miRNA expression profiles of γ-irradiated PBL incubated 24h in the two different gravity conditions, we individuated miRNAs specifically expressed during repair time in MMG; these miRNA species were probably altered by the combined action of IR and MMG in a way that is dose dependent. In order to figure out the mechanism by which miRNAs can modulate a certain biological function in response to IR, gene expression profiles were analysed on the same PBL samples used to assess miRNA expression levels, in 1g and MMG. The anti-correlation analysis was performed between differentially expressed mRNAs and deregulated miRNAs to investigate the putative miRNA target genes. Finally, Gene Ontology analysis was conducted on significant anti-correlated target genes with the aim of identifying the biological categories which they belong to. From our results it arose that few genes were activated in irradiated PBL incubated 24h either in 1g or MMG and most of them were gravity-specific. In 2Gy PBL incubated in 1g a great number of deregulated genes belonged to the DNA Damage Response (DDR) categories: apoptosis, response to wounding and response to DNA damage. These categories were not found in 2Gy PBL incubated in MMG, where instead were altered biological processes involved in regulation of development, cell differentiation/activation, immune system, cytokine production and hemopoiesis; they were all characterized by a general gene down-regulation. In addition, we focused on significantly anti-correlated genes of DDR pathway, activated in the two gravity conditions, to highlight the differences between 1g and MMG. We hypothesize that the smaller number of radio-responsive miRNAs in MMG can operate an unscheduled regulation of the expression level of transcripts usually not targeted. The scenario proposed in this work is that modeled microgravity incubation, following ionizing radiation exposure (simulated space environment), could affect the appropriate radiation cell response of human lymphocytes reducing the efficiency of DNA repair. To better investigate miRNA biological functions in the simulated space environment, it has been necessary to focus our studies on miRNA target validation and functional analysis. For this reason, the PhD program was carried out for seven months in the laboratory of Prof. Riccardo Dalla-Favera at “Institute for Cancer Genetics”, Columbia University (New York, USA), to acquire some expertise in molecular biology techniques and their applications to the study of microRNAs.
Le radiazioni ionizzanti (IR), colpendo le cellule degli organismi eucarioti è in grado di provocare danni a proteine, lipidi e molecole di DNA, in modo diretto o indiretto come risultato della formazione di radicali liberi. Tra i numerosi tipi di danno al DNA, le rotture a doppio filamento o double-strand breaks (DSBs) rappresentano il tipo di lesione più grave, dal momento che una riparazione inefficiente o non accurata può portare a morte cellulare o instabilità genomica. La presenza di DSBs induce una complessa risposta al danno al DNA che vede coinvolti una serie di eventi cellulari quali: la rilevazione del danno, la trasduzione del segnale agli effettori della riparazione, l’arresto del ciclo cellulare e l’induzione di apoptosi. Nei mammiferi, una delle risposte cellulari più precoci dopo l’induzione di una doppia rottura è la fosforilazione dell’istone H2AX (γ-H2AX) in corrispondenza del sito di danno, che avviene per opera delle fosfatidilinositolol-3-OH-chinasi (ATM, DNA-PK and ATR). Questo evento sembra essere importante nel reclutamento di fattori di segnalazione del danno e di proteine coinvolte nella riparazione delle DSBs nei siti danneggiati (i.e 53BP1, Mre11, Rad50, Nbs1), dando origine a ionizing radiation-induced foci (IRIF), che possono essere costituiti da migliaia di queste molecole proteiche. Monitorando la cinetica di formazione e scomparsa degli IRIF, che si accumulano nei siti danneggiati, è possibile analizzare il danno al DNA e la sua riparazione; in particolare, è stato osservato che la diminuzione dei foci di γ-H2AX correla con la progressione della riparazione delle DSBs. Gli eventi di segnalazione attivati in risposta alle radiazioni ionizzanti dipendono, oltre che dalle caratteristiche genetiche e fisiologiche del sistema biologico osservato, anche dalle condizioni ambientali presenti durante la riparazione del DNA. Per questa ragione abbiamo analizzato e confrontato la risposta cellulare umana alle IR in condizioni diverse di gravità, normale come sulla Terra (1g) e ridotta come nell’ambiente spaziale; in quest’ultimo l’esposizione ai raggi cosmici a cui l’uomo è soggetto durante le missioni spaziali e associata alla riduzione della forza di gravità. L’ambiente spaziale è caratterizzato dalla presenza di radiazioni ionizzanti, nella forma di particelle atomiche cariche che rappresentano il più importante fattore limitante la lunga permanenza dell’uomo nello spazio, ma anche dalla condizione di assenza di peso, che prende il nome di microgravità (10-4–10-6g). In letteratura sono stati riportati alcuni effetti della microgravità osservati in astronauti di ritorno dai voli spaziali, questi riguardano: la soppressione del sistema immunitario, l’atrofia muscolare, problemi cardiovascolari e la demineralizzazione e decalcificazione ossea. Cellule mantenute in coltura durante le missione spaziali e modelli a terra della microgravità mostrano inibizione della proliferazione dei linfociti, soppressione o alterazione della secrezione di citochine, modificazioni del citoscheletro e anche incremento delle aberrazioni cromosomiche e apoptosi. Pertanto, capire se gli effetti della radiazione ionizzante possano essere influenzati dalla microgravità rimane un punto di rilevante importanza nella valutazione dei rischi durante le missioni spaziali. In questo lavoro, la microgravità è stata simulata in laboratorio usando il bioreattore “Rotating Wall Vessel” (Synthecon) messo a punto nei laboratori della NASA a Houston; questo strumento permette di riprodurre un aspetto dei voli spaziali che è l’assenza di peso, condizione che prende il nome di “modeled microgravity” (MMG). Nella prima parte di questo progetto è stata studiata la riparazione delle DSBs in linfociti umani irradiati con raggi gamma e mantenuti durante il tempo di riparazione in 1g o MMG. La formazione e la scomparsa dei foci dell’istone γ-H2AX è stata monitorata a diversi tempi dall’irradiazione mediante immunofluorescenza; nei medesimi campioni è stato anche analizzato l’indice apoptotico e la frammentazione del DNA, quest’ultimo con la tecnica della pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) in cui la frazione di DNA rilasciata nel gel (FR) è considerata una misura delle DSBs. I risultati ottenuti confermano che l’incubazione in MMG durante il tempo di riparazione influenza la sopravvivenza cellulare, l’apoptosi e ritarda la riparazione delle DSBs, incrementando l’effetto genotossico delle radiazioni ionizzanti. Sulla base delle osservazioni fatte, si è passati a studiare se la IR e la MMG possono avere un’azione sinergica sulle cellule analizzando i profili di espressione dei microRNAs: regolatori negativi dell’espressione genica. I microRNAs (miRNAs) sono una classe di corti RNA (~22nt) endogeni, che svolgono un ruolo chiave in molti processi cellulari poiché reprimono l’espressione dei mRNA target. Nelle cellule animali, queste molecole vanno a reprimere la traduzione dei geni codificanti proteine legandosi a sequenze complementari nelle regioni non tradotte al 3’ terminale (3’UTR) dei mRNA. Per questo motivo i miRNAs sono coinvolti in numerosi processi biologici come: lo sviluppo, la proliferazione cellulare, l’apoptosi, la funzionalità delle cellule staminali e la tumorigenesi. Scopo: Questo progetto si proponeva di: i) analizzare l’efficienza di riparazione del DNA in condizione di microgravità simulata (MMG), puntando l’attenzione alla cinetica di riparazione delle DSBs; ii) capire se la radiazione ionizzante e la microgravità simulata possono avere un’azione sinergica in cellule umane, confrontando i miRNA radio-responsivi nelle due condizioni di gravità (1g e MMG) Attività svolta: La presenza di foci nucleari dell’istone γ-H2AX e l’indice apoptotico sono stati monitorati in linfociti umani irradiati con raggi γ e non, incubati in 1g e MMG. Negli stessi campioni è stata studiata la riparazione delle DSBs analizzando la frazione di DNA rilasciata (FR) dopo Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). In seguito, usando l’approccio dei microarray con “Human miRNA microarray Kit V2” (Agilent) e della real-time qPCR, sono stati analizzati i profili di espressione dei miRNAs in linfociti umani irradiati con raggi γ e incubati in 1g e MMG. Impiegando poi i microarrays “Whole Human Genome Oligo Microarray” (Agilent) per gli stessi campioni di cellule, è stato possibile determinare i profili di espressione genica; allo scopo di identificare i probabili mRNA target dei miRNA radio-responsivi i dati di espressione dei miRNA e dei mRNA sono stati integrati in un’analisi di anticorrelazione. Infine, per studiare i processi biologici maggiormente coinvolti nella risposta cellulare alle radiazioni ionizzanti è stata eseguita una Gene Ontology analysis (GO) applicata ai miRNA-mRNA target significativamente anti-correlati. Risultati e conclusioni: I risultati ottenuti dallo studio dei foci dell’istone γ-H2AX in PBL irradiati mostrano che il numero medio di foci/nucleo a tempi brevi di riparazione nelle due condizioni di gravità è comparabile. Al contrario, per tempi lunghi, la diminuzione del numero di foci è significativamente differente; infatti, a 24h dall’irradiazione i PBL incubati in 1g presentano 2 foci/nucleo, mentre quelli in MMG 6.4 foci/nucleo. Per verificare che la scomparsa dei foci di γ-H2AX fosse correlata con la riparazione delle DSBs è stata utilizzata la tecnica della PFGE. La cinetica di riparazione delle DSBs è stata analizzata in PBL irradiati e incubati in 1g e MMG; nelle cellule incubate in MMG il contenuto di DNA frammentato era maggiore rispetto alla 1g (FR 77% vs. 33% a 2 h e FR 50% vs. 17% a 6 h, rispettivamente). Probabilmente la MMG influisce sulle modificazioni strutturali della cromatina che avvengono in risposta alla DSBs, diminuendo l’efficienza di riparazione; pertanto, la riparazione delle DSBs che in 1g avviene in poche ore, richiede più tempo in MMG. Nella seconda parte del progetto sono stati analizzati i profili di espressione di miRNA in PBL irradiati con raggi γ e incubati in 1g e MMG. Dai risultati ottenuti è emerso che la radiazione altera i profili di espressione dei miRNA in modo dose e tempo dipendente, in entrambe le condizioni di gravità. L’esposizione ai raggi gamma in 1g altera i profili di espressione dei miRNA, sia a tempi brevi che lunghi, con maggior numero di miRNA radio-responsivi a 24h dopo esposizione alla dose maggiore (2Gy). Dal confronto dei profili di espressione di miRNA in PBL irradiati e mantenuti 24h nelle due condizioni di gravità vengono individuati miRNAs espressi in modo specifico durante l’incubazione in MMG; questi miRNAs vengono probabilmente alterati dall’azione combinata della IR con la MMG con effetto dose-dipendente. Anche le cellule non irradiate ma mantenute 24h in MMG presentano 42 miRNA deregolati rispetto alla 1g. Per far luce sul meccanismo col quale i miRNAs possono modulare alcuni processi biologici in risposta alle radiazioni ionizzanti, sono stati analizzati i profili di espressione di mRNAs negli stessi campioni per i quali sono stati ricavati i profili dei miRNAs. L’analisi di anti-correlazione tra i miRNA e i mRNA differenzialmente espressi e l’analisi computazionale con PITA hanno permesso di predire geni target dei miRNA. Infine, è stata eseguita la Gene Ontology analisi su geni target significativamente anti-correlati, allo scopo di identificare le categorie biologiche di appartenenza. Dai nostri risultati è emerso che alcuni geni sono attivati in PBL irradiati e incubati 24h sia in 1g che MMG, molti di loro sono gravità-specifici. In cellule irradiate con 2Gy e incubate in 1g un grande numero di mRNAs alterati appartiene alle categorie della risposta al danno al DNA (DDR): apoptosi, risposta allo stress, risposta al danno al DNA. Queste categorie non sono risultanti dall’analisi dei PBL irradiati e mantenuti in MMG, dove invece sono alterati processi coinvolti nel differenziamento e attivazione cellulare, sistema immunitario, produzione di citochine ed emopoiesi; tutte caratterizzate da una sostanziale down-regolazione genica. Questo studio fornisce prove che la MMG associata alla radiazione ionizzante porta ad una non appropriata risposta al danno al DNA in linfociti umani, dovuta probabilmente alla perdita di miRNAs radio-responsivi coinvolti nella DDR. Per meglio studiare le funzioni biologiche dei miRNAs in condizione di microgravità simulata è stato necessario puntare l’attenzione sulla validazione dei messageri target predetti e sull’analisi funzionale. Per questa ragione il programma finale di dottorato è stato svolto presso il laboratorio del Prof. Riccardo Dalla-Favera all’“Institute for Cancer Genetics” (Columbia University, New York, USA), per un periodo di sette mesi, allo scopo di acquisire competenze di biologia molecolare che vengono applicate allo studio dei microRNAs.

This article critically analyses transhumanism, an ideological movement that advocates the radical biomodification of the human body in order to overcome our deficiencies and progress towards our next phase in evolution. Following previous criticism against the depoliticization within transhumanism, the article will aim to highlight the difficulty within transhumanism to balance the respect for diversity against the imperative for human enhancement. This paper then turns to the political theory of Hannah Arendt as the theoretical lens to highlight the source of this tension as the ideology’s reductive view of politics. The paper concludes on the difficulties reconciling diversity with human enhancement, as well as raising awareness of the possibility of conscious action in concert related to the use of biomodification technologies advocated by transhumanists.

In the literature on inspection modelling, the failure distribution traditionally plays a fundamental role in model construction in that it is assumed that system failures occur instantly at random time points from new with a known pdf. of time to failure. Numerous models have been built on this basis. However, Professor Christer challenged this traditional idea and proposed the concept of delay time. The idea, which is an essential part of most engineers' experience, assumes that defects do not just appear as failures, but are present for a while before becoming sufficiently obvious to be noticed and declared as failures. The time lapse from when a defect could first be identified at an inspection to consequential failure has been termed the "delay time". It is this idea which can be captured to reveal the nature and scope for preventive maintenance or inspection. It appears that the concept is now being taken up by many other authors. In this thesis, various models for condition monitoring inspection are built on the basis of delay time analysis. Extensions and further developments are made here to enrich the delay-time modelling. Since the distribution of the delay time is important to delay time modelling, a new approach to estimate the delay time distribution is proposed. This technique, which contrasts with the previous subjective data estimation technique, is based upon objective data. Assuming the distribution of the delay time is known, models of condition monitoring inspection are fully discussed for both perfect and imperfect inspections, and for infinite and finite time horizons. Based upon the models for perfect inspection, algorithms are presented to find the optimal solution. Numerical examples are presented in each Chapter to illustrate how models and algorithms work.

This study carries out both a technical and a thematic analysis of the novels by Albert Camus, L&
#8217
Etranger, La Peste, and La Chute, and Samuel Beckett, Molloy, Malone Dies, and The Unnamable. In the technical analysis of the novels, the study explores the differences in characterization and narrative technique. It argues that the differences in these two issues mainly emerge from the difference in the two authors&
#8217
views of art. In the thematic analysis, on the other hand, the study focuses on the recurring themes in the two authors&
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novels. It argues that Camus and Beckett explore similar themes in their novels because both writers belong to the absurd tradition. In other words, although their notions of art are different, their views of the human condition are quite similar, which is reflected in the common themes they explore in their novels.

This study explores the reception and ideological significance of one of the most widely read ‘bestsellers’ of early modern Europe, the late medieval Spanish novel-in-dialogue Celestina by Fernando de Rojas (1499). Celestina’s reception has been traced through a variety of methods and sources; however, no single study has yet sought a broader ideological and comparative interpretation of its appeal. I argue that Celestina continued to be meaningful because it engaged with one of the central ideological preoccupations of the later Middle Ages and Renaissance, namely the human condition, conceptualised in debates about the misery and dignity of man. Taking my cues from reception theorists and scholars of cultural translation, I reconstruct the ‘horizons of expectation’ of Celestina’s reception in XVIc Spain and Italy by setting it in dialogue with analogous texts common to both Peninsulas that also deal with this issue. As well as foregrounding how meaning is created in the process of reception, this approach extends Celestina’s own methodology, which juxtaposed and re-constituted disparate elements to create something new. I argue that Celestina demonstrates how literary texts represent spaces where ideologies can be negotiated, qualified, and even critiqued. After a discussion of methodological and thematic issues, Chapter 2 juxtaposes Celestina and the Diálogo de la dignidad del hombre (1546) and examines the concepts of self-knowledge and solitude against conceptualisations of human misery and dignity, and emerging attitudes of disbelief. Chapter 3 uses Il Cortegiano (1528) for an investigation into the concept of self-fashioning as it relates to Renaissance debates about language and courtliness, and changes in XVIc society. Focusing on La vita delle puttane (1534) and its translation, the Coloquio de las damas (1547), chapter 4 addresses agency and self-hood from the perspective of the margins, exploring the tension between freedom and constraint through the figure of the prostitute. The final section considers the ideological association between the ‘mala muger’ and liber pestifer in the context of XVIc censorship.

In this thesis. a three dimensional heat transfer model of heated airflow through the upper human respiratory tract consisting of nasal, oral, trachea, and the first two generations of bronchi is developed using computational fluid dynamics simulation software. Various studies have been carried out in the literature investigating the heat and mass transfer characteristics in the upper human respiratory tract, and the study focuses on assessing the injury taking place in the upper human respiratory tract and identifying acute tissue damage based on level of exposure. The model considered is for the simultaneous oronasal breathing during the inspiration phase with high volumetric flow rate of 90/liters minute and a surrounding air temperature of 100 degrees centigrade. The study of the heat and mass transfer, aerosol deposition and flow characteristics in the upper human respiratory tract using computational fluid mechanics simulation requires access to a two dimensional or three dimensional model for the human respiratory tract. Depicting an exact model is a complex task since it involves the prolonged use of imaging devices on the human body. Hence a three dimensional geometric representation of the human upper respiratory tract is developed consisting of nasal cavity, oral cavity, nasopharynx, pharynx, oropharynx, trachea and first two generations of the bronchi. The respiratory tract is modeled circular in cross-section and varying diameter for various portions as identified in this study. The dimensions are referenced from the literature herein. Based on the dimensions, a simplified model representing the human upper respiratory tract is generated.This model will be useful in studying the flow characteristics and could assist in treatment of injuries to the human respiratory tract as well as help optimize drug delivery mechanism and dosages. Also a methodology is proposed to measure the characteristic dimension of the human nasal and oral cavity at the inlet/outlet points which are classified as internal measurements.

This dissertation takes as its starting point some curious historical parallels in research on the heritability of alcoholism from opposite ends of the 20th century, and the underlying continuity in assumptions implicated by these parallels. Rather than review mainstream historical narratives on the origins of genetic research and alcoholism studies, I examine evidence and developments as yet unexplored by scholars. First I examine the origins of recent research models and diagnostic criteria that provide evidence for the hereditary nature of alcoholism. Then I consider the assumption of genetic determinism and its relationship to strategies of propaganda employed by the Eugenics movement early in the century. Using these historical "snapshots" I draw out conceptual and philosophical problems with the genetic explanation of alcoholism that continue to confront researchers today. These limitations suggest two possible avenues of resolution: either we develop finer-grained strategies for distinguishing social deviance from physical disorders, or we develop an integrated understanding of the complex interplay of human biological and cultural systems by extending the approach known as Developmental Systems Theory. In the conclusion, I explore these options and their potential ramifications for our understanding of alcoholism in hereditary and human contexts.
Ph. D.

Nikos Kazantzakis' Captain Michales is a freedom fighter in nineteenth century Crete. Patrick White's Voss is a German explorer in nineteenth century Australia. Two men struggling for achievement, their disparate social contexts united in the same fundamental search for meaning. This thesis makes comparison of these different struggles through thematic analysis of the texts, examining within the narratives the role of food, perceptions of body and soul, landscapes, gender relations, home-coming and religious experience. Themes from the novels are extracted and intertwined, within a range of theoretical frameworks: history, anthropology, science, literary and social theories, religion and politics; allowing close investigation of each novel's social, political and historical particularities, as well as their underlying discussion of perennial human issues. These novels are each essentially explorations of the human experience. Read together, they highlight the commonest of human elements, most poignantly the need for communion; facilitating analysis of the individual and all our communities. Comparing the two novels also continues the process of each: examining the self both within and outside of the narratives, producing a new textual self, arising from both primary sources and the contextual breadth of such rewriting.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Sydney, 2004.
Title from title screen (viewed 16 May 2008). Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the Dept. of Modern Greek. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print form.

The essays featured in this collection highlight the gaps, as well as parallels, between mental illness and the human condition. In "Appearances," the narrator struggles with her own visual identity especially after reflecting on her Mom's own lengthy history with the mirror. In "Migrations," the lyrical voice of the narrator carries the reader through the typical day of a clinically depressed female character. Lastly, "Attempting the Fall," addresses the issues society has with mental illness by following the narrator from her suicide attempt to the mental ward.

Les cellules souches pluripotentes humaines (hPSC) sont des cellules capables à la fois d'autorenouvellement et de se différencier en tous les types cellulaires. Elles peuvent être issues de l'embryon (pour cellules souches embryonnaires humaines, hESC) ou être obtenues par reprogrammation d'une cellule différenciée (pour cellules souches pluripotentes induites humaines, hiPSC). Les hPSC sont au centre d'enjeux scientifiques, médicaux et économiques majeurs, en particulier dans le cadre des maladies génétiques et orphelines. En effet, elles ouvrent la porte à de nouvelles stratégies de modélisation de maladies génétiques humaines in vitro et sont une source potentiellement illimitée de cellules pour une thérapie cellulaire des maladies dégénératives. Cependant, la culture in vitro de hPSC est une étape essentielle avant toute application clinique ou recherche fondamentale. En effet, la culture cellulaire est nécessaire pour l'amplification du nombre des cellules, et est nécessaire pour toute étape de différenciation in vitro. Or c'est une étape délicate pour le succès des applications visées. Mon travail de doctorat s'est focalisé sur deux aspects de la culture des hPSC. Dans un premier temps, j'ai modélisé in vitro une voie de différenciation, le développement trophoblastique humain, en modulant les paramètres de la condition de culture, notamment en jouant sur la concentration du facteur de croissance BMP4. Ce travail m'a permis d'élucider la toute première bifurcation de différenciation cellulaire au cours du développement embryonnaire humain précoce. Dans un second temps, mon travail s'est focalisé sur le changement phénotypique et génomique des hPSC au cours de la culture in vitro. J'ai montré que l'utilisation de certains protocoles de passage cellulaire – en particulier le passage par dissociation cellulaire complète par utilisation de trypsine - se traduit par des acquisitions très précoces d'anomalies génétiques chromosomiques et sub-chromosomiques, et que des anomalies sub-chromosomiques pouvaient précéder l'apparition d'anomalies chromosomiques. Les conséquences de ces observations sont importante pour la recherche de la culture de hPSC : (1) il faut définitivement renoncer à l'utilisation des passages par dissociation cellulaire complète, y compris pour les méthodes de culture en suspension, et (2) il faut, pour valider une technique de culture, compléter systématiquement le caryotype par un examen d'analyse génétique avec une meilleure résolution
Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSC) are the stem cells capable to self-renew and also to differentiate into all the cell types. These cells can be derived from embryos (for human embryonic stem cells, hESC) but also be obtained by reprogramming the differentiated somatic cells (for human induced pluripotent cells, hiPSC). The hPSC become central stakes of science, medicine and economy, particularly for genetic and rare diseases. In fact, they open up the new perspectives to the novel treatment strategies by remodeling human genetic diseases in vitro and at the same time they are a potentially unlimited cell source for cell therapy for especially degenerative diseases. Meanwhile, the hPSC in vitro culture is one of the most important steps before passing to the clinic applications and in fundamental research, as the proliferation and pluripotency can only be maintained in culture condition as well as many differentiation methods. My PhD work was concentrated on the hPSC in vitro culture. At first, I modeled human trophoblastic development and its differentiation pathway in vitro by modulating the parameters of culture, especially the concentration of BMP4. This work permitted clarifying the first cell lineage bifurcation in early human embryonic development. Secondly, my word was focalized on the phenotypic and genomic changes of hPSC during the in vitro culture. I demonstrated that the use of some passaging protocols in culture, particularly complete cell dissociation by trypsin, was translated by very early acquisitions of chromosomal and sub-chromosomal abnormalities, and that the appearance of sub-chromosomal abnormalities could precede chromosomal abnormalities. The consequences of these observations are important for the hPSC culture research: (1) the use of complete cell-dissociation passaging should be definitively abandoned, including the suspension culture, and (2) the genetic analyses with higher resolution should be added to validate a culture technic

L’introduzione delle più recenti tecnologie dell'ICT nei processi industriali sta creando le basi per una nuova rivoluzione industriale denominata Industry 4.0. Grazie a queste tecnologie, persone, macchine e risorse possono comunicare e organizzarsi, generando un vero e proprio cambiamento di paradigma, da un controllo totalmente centralizzato a un insieme di processi produttivi decentralizzati. Questo cambiamento coinvolge anche l’uomo: i sistemi industriali di nuova generazione sono molto complessi e la loro interazione con l’uomo deve essere mediata da opportune interfacce utente. Il progetto di tesi si colloca in questo ambito: come cambia l'interazione uomo-macchina e uomo-computer con l'introduzione di queste nuove tecnologie in ambito industriale? Quale approccio occorre adottare per sviluppare sistemi che, nonostante la loro complessità, siano altamente usabili? Per rispondere a queste domande sono stati analizzati i principi fondanti dell’Industria 4.0, per poi verificare quali architetture, tecnologie e paradigmi supportino l’applicazione di questi principi ai Cyber-Physical System e alle Smart Factory. Successivamente sono state analizzate tecniche e metodologie appartenenti alle sfere dell'ergonomia e della Human-Computer Interaction, per individuare quali fossero le best practice per costruire una metodologia di Human-Centered Design applicabile al contesto industriale. Infine, tutti questi studi sono stati applicati a un progetto reale: Mentor©. Questo progetto, nato dalle menti degli ingegneri di Bucci Industries di Faenza e condotto in collaborazione con l'Università di Bologna, mira a realizzare un innovativo sistema di monitoraggio delle condizioni e della produttività dei macchinari industriali. Il lavoro di tesi, svolto interamente presso le sedi di Bucci Industries, ha previsto la revisione, la progettazione e l’implementazione di numerose interfacce di Mentor©, applicando i principi dello Human-Centered Design.

The goal of this thesis project was to digitize a milling machine. To achieve this, a data collection system was created using current sensors connected to a PLC external to the machine's CNC control to measure the phase currents of the machine's motors. During a period of observation, in which the machine exhibited only healthy behavior, data on the motor currents were collected by running a diagnostic cycle between the normal production cycles. This data was then processed to develop a condition monitoring PLC application for the motors. The application allows the user to determine how similar the signals recorded are to those recorded during the collection period and in this way determine if any anomalies are present. To determine the presence of anomalies, the signals are processed using three different approaches: first they are compared to a nominal signal in the time domain, then through a classifier obtained by machine learning techniques, their harmonic content is analyzed; finally, an autoencoder is used and the reconstruction error is evaluated. Combining the results of these approaches, the final judgment on the executed diagnostic cycle is then produced. In addition, a mobile human-machine interface has been created to allow the machine operator to visualize the produced diagnostic data, to update the production data and to monitor the machine operation through a mobile device.

Nikos Kazantzakis� Captain Michales is a freedom fighter in nineteenth century Crete. Patrick White�s Voss is a German explorer in nineteenth century Australia. Two men struggling for achievement, their disparate social contexts united in the same fundamental search for meaning. This thesis makes comparison of these different struggles through thematic analysis of the texts, examining within the narratives the role of food, perceptions of body and soul, landscapes, gender relations, home-coming and religious experience. Themes from the novels are extracted and intertwined, within a range of theoretical frameworks: history, anthropology, science, literary and social theories, religion and politics; allowing close investigation of each novel�s social, political and historical particularities, as well as their underlying discussion of perennial human issues. These novels are each essentially explorations of the human experience. Read together, they highlight the commonest of human elements, most poignantly the need for communion; facilitating analysis of the individual and all our communities. Comparing the two novels also continues the process of each: examining the self both within and outside of the narratives, producing a new textual self, arising from both primary sources and the contextual breadth of such rewriting.

Transhumanism is a philosophy and a contemporary movement dedicated to improving the human condition in various ways. This thesis explores how the transhumanist movement contributes to the contemporary conceptualization or reconceptualization of the human body and the human condition. Furthermore, this thesis discusses three transhumanist key concepts, namely Mind Uploading, Cryonics, and the Primo Posthuman, and how these ideas might affect the research participants’ understanding and enactment of the human body and the human condition. By relying on ethnographic methods, including semi-structured interviews and participant observations from a 12-week fieldwork in Arizona, the ethnographic material is then discussed with the use of Annemarie Mol’s body multiple theory. In addition to this, the material is also analyzed with literature discussing the three main themes of this thesis, namely the re-conceptualization of the body, the mind, and body dualism, and the redefinition of death and the dying body. The ethnographic material and the accounts made from the research participants illustrate that the body is enacted and understood as insufficient and fragile, cartesian, a current vehicle readable and quantifiable through numbers and graphs, and a body whose mind can be uploaded into a computational substrate by the transhumanist community. It also describes how the body can be enacted as alive, an anatomical object, and a body with agency and personhood. Furthermore, the thesis concludes that the transhumanist movement contributes to the contemporary conceptualization and reconceptualization of the human body and the human condition by enacting multiple bodies as well as discussing and imagining new possible human conditions and human bodies. Lastly, this thesis does not only address important anthropological questions regarding ontology and the enactment of the human body. It also discusses relevant questions about humans and technology, as well as questions regarding death and imagination.

This thesis project presents a sample class session for the course, "The Human Condition: An Arts Perpective" (ARTH 361), which will be a part of the optional Medical Humanities minor for the pre-medicine students at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). Dr. Margaret Lindauer, Associate Professor of Art History at VCU has directed the development of this course. She oversaw the creation of the preliminary syllabus, which includes readings and assignments relevant to the course. The Tour presented in this thesis project provides a model for planning other class sessions, some of which will be developed by Museum Studies graduate students, some of whom might not have previous experience facilitating gallery tours. I assert that tours such as the one proposed in this project provide pre-medicine students with the opportunity to practice observational skills outside of the clinical setting. In looking at art, pre-medicine students approach the act of observation from a different angle and discussion about art objects often have valuable insight about the medical profession they are entering into. This thesis report accordingly offers brief summaries of research studies that were consulted while the aforementioned tour was developed. It also includes the author's experiences working with a group of pre-nursing undergraduate student at VCU, and it includes a summary of the devloped tour as well as feedback provided by a VMFA Education Department staff member.

付記する学位プログラム名: 充実した健康長寿社会を築く総合医療開発リーダー育成プログラム
Kyoto University (京都大学)
0048
新制・課程博士
博士(医科学)
甲第22121号
医科博第106号
新制||医科||7(附属図書館)
京都大学大学院医学研究科医科学専攻
(主査)教授 濵﨑 洋子, 教授 河本 宏, 教授 生田 宏一
学位規則第4条第1項該当

The automated industry is in a growing phase and the human tasks is increasingly replaced by robots and other automation solutions. The increasing industry entails that the automations must be reliable and condition monitoring plays an important role in achieving that ambition. By utilizing condition monitoring of a machine it is possible to detect a wear before it turns into a critical damage that could result in complete failure. A useful tool when monitoring the condition of a machine is by sampling and analyzing vibrations. Vibrations are generated by the moving parts of the machinery and high amplitude vibrations can often be seen as an indication of the developed faults. The frequency of these vibrations can be calculated and then detected in the sampled data. Today there is no condition monitoring system that monitor industrial robots by analyzing vibrations. The problem with analyzing robots, is that they operate with a varying speed. Since the running conditions are changing rapidly all the time, this means that the vibration frequencies also changes constantly. This is due to the fact that the vibration frequencies are dependent and affected of the operation speed. This research is a sequel and continuation of a research from previous year. The purpose of the research is to investigate the possibility to monitor the condition of a gearbox in a industrial robot, by utilizing vibration analysis. The robot that has been tested under tuff conditions in order to reach a failure, is an ABB IRB 6600. To sample data in a stationary way even tough the speed is changing during the sample time, the method order tracking has been utilized. This makes it possible to sample data with numbers of measurement per rotation instead of sampling according to time. This is processed by SKF:s condition monitoring system multilog IMx and the signal is then presented as a time waveform in the software @ptitude Observer. In Observer, it is also possible to show the signal in a spectrum by using Fast Fourier Transform. By utilizing MATLAB, the research has also resulted in a new analyzing method. This method is called Spectral Auto-Correlation. The methodology of this practice is to correlated the time waveform with itself in order to see which frequencies that are reappearing. The correlated result is then calculated with a Fast Fourier Transform to illustrate the signal in a spectrum for further analysis. During the analysis of the parts in the gearbox, critical defects were found on both the cycloidal disks. The fault frequency for the defects were calculated and analyzed from the data. This resulted in trends where the amplitude from the fault frequency had more than doubled over the time the robot has been operating in the project. This report also include a production simulation where a robot cell from SKF is simulated. The robot cell is simulated with and without a condition monitoring system. A comparison was then made to see what advantages there were with utilizing a condition monitoring system. The result of the simulation was an increased productivity with two to three percent.

Este trabalho se inscreve entre os muitos que configuram a obra coletiva que têm sido os desenvolvimentos da psicanálise desde Freud e de sua posta em público por Lacan sob a forma de ensino. Trata-se de um exercício de pensamento, acerca do que está sendo denominado condição humana, que incide sobre algumas idéias ou noções em torno das quais, ou no contexto das quais, a noção de autoridade em educação é um elemento a ser considerado. As idéias e noções propostas ao pensamento autoridade, verdade e as esferas pública e privada da vida vêm do campo da política ou, mais precisamente, do pensamento arendtiano sobre política, consistindo assim, uma leitura possível de parte da obra de Hannah Arendt, leitura essa feita da perspectiva da psicanálise. O processo de pensamento sobre tais idéias marcou a direção do trabalho de pesquisa como um encadeamento de articulações entre as noções de autoridade, política, verdade, realidade, impossível, desejo, ética e espaços publico e privado. O fio norteador do pensamento proposto foi uma hipótese acerca do que problematiza a autoridade e, portanto não só a educação, mas talvez mais agudamente a educação é algo que gravita em torno da noção de impossível que Lacan trouxe da lógica para o campo da psicanálise: o que problematiza a autoridade é um desarranjo ou, talvez, um re-arranjo moderno em relação ao impossível convocado pela linguagem.
This work fits into the many works configuring the collective work which has been the developments of Psychoanalysis from Freud and his work put to public by Lacan under the form of teaching. It is an exercise of thinking, about what has been given the name of human condition, incident upon some ideas or notions around which or in the context of which the notion of authority in education is an element to be taken into consideration. The ideas and notions proposed to thinking authority, truth, and the public and private spheres of life come from the field of politics, or, more precisely, from the Arendtian thought about politics, thus consisting of one possible reading of part of Hannah Arendts work, such reading done from the perspective of psychoanalysis. The process of thought about such ideas marked the direction to the research work as a chaining of articulations among the notions of authority, politics, truth, reality, the impossible, desire, ethics, and public and private spaces. The guiding thread to the proposed thinking was a hypothesis around what problematizes authority and, therefore, not only education, but maybe education more acutely is something which orbits around the notion of impossible which Lacan brought from logic to the Field of psychoanalysis: what problematizes authority is a disarrangement, or maybe a modern rearrangement towards the impossible called in by language.

Questa tesi ha l'obbiettivo di discutere le tematiche legate all'Industria 4.0 e all Human-Computer Interaction nel mondo manifatturiero partendo dall’esperienza di tirocinio presso Bucci Industries dove è stato affrontato un caso di studio reale. Infatti, è in fase di sviluppo un applicazione per il monitoraggio in tempo reale di macchine automatiche (chiamato Mentor) che permette di migliorare sensibilmente la produzione e semplificare l’estrazione e la lettura di dati utili per operatori di macchina e responsabili. Nel dettaglio, il lavoro svolto ha permesso di implementare e discutere le interfacce grafiche dell’applicazione di Mentor che raccoglie e permette di visualizzare tutti i dati di produzione delle macchine con la possibilità di applicare diversi filtri. Sfruttando le potenzialità di AngularJS e le tecnologie front-end più note sono stati implementati e revisionati i diversi componenti delle interfacce utente che sono poi stati testati con utenti reali per ricevere un feedback qualitativo sull’usabilità di ciò che è stato prodotto. Il tutto è stato svolto seguendo i principi esposti dalla quarta rivoluzione industriale e dall’HCI, sfruttando i vantaggi messi a disposizione da uno sviluppo Agile e coinvolgendo in ogni fase del processo di sviluppo gli utenti (secondo i dettami dello User-centered Design). I tre capitoli della tesi trattano rispettivamente di Industria 4.0 (IoT, CPS e Smart Factory), Human-Computer Interaction (soprattutto nell'ambito industriale) e la presentazione e la discussione del lavoro svolto durante il tirocinio giungendo a risultati concreti che potranno essere utilizzati per gli sviluppi futuri di Mentor.

The thesis aims to explore the issue of representation and its limits in the works of Jorge Luis Borges and Italo Calvin. It focuses on the authors' treatments of the relationships between representational practices and the constraining limits of the human condition in perceiving reality. The introduction aims to discuss the methodology of the thesis and the theoretical positions of contemporary theorists regarding these relationships in order to contextualise and place the thesis in perspective. The conflictual tension between representation and the human condition will then be organised around five major themes, i. e. language, cognition, hermeneutics, spatial forms, and games, each of which will be a focal point of a chapter. While the first two chapters set out to describe how language and cognition prevent humans from attaining the real in its absolute state, the next three chapters will mainly discuss the implications and consequences of the unattainable real and human inadequacies. Each of these five chapters, in its different yet interconnected direction, features an extensive discussion of the issue of representational limits and a comparative analysis of what the authors manage to do in face of the issue. A final conclusion will summarise the similarities and differences in the ways both authors deal with the critical interactions between representation and the limits of the human condition.

Amniotic fluid stem cells (AFSCs) offer therapeutic potential for prenatal and neonatal diseases based on their unique features. From the development of embryos, AFSCs represent a category between embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), with AFSCs more primitive than MSCs. Our lab has previously established that AFSCs can be reprogrammed to regain functional pluripotency with valproic acid (VPA). However, detailed mechanisms are still unknown. Here, our results showed that Wnt signalling was downregulated in the initial stage and upregulated with VPA treatment; whereas mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition (MET) was not observed in the process. Additionally, our previous results demonstrated that AFSCs maintained in ESC conditions shared 82% transcriptome similarity with ESCs. In the second part of this study, we revealed that features of AFSCs including marker expression and differentiation ability were sustained better in ESC conditions. Regarding osteogenesis, enhanced osteogenic ability was found in AFSCs maintained in ESC conditions due to a TGF-beta/CD73-dependent signalling pathway. Moreover, in addition to possessing the same tri-lineage differentiation capability as MSCs, AFSCs can also be induced to express cardiac markers, but contractile cells have not been obtained yet. As features of AFSCs are better preserved in ESC conditions, a Wnt-dependent cardiomyocyte differentiation protocol for pluripotent stem cells is examined on AFSCs in the last part of this study. Our results showed that, with the Wnt-dependent protocol, cardiac markers were induced but spontaneously contractile cells were not observed. Taken together, our findings show that (1) Wnt signalling may play a role in VPA-induced reprogramming, (2) AFSCs maintained in ESC conditions can better maintain stem cell features, especially osteogenic ability through a TGF-beta/CD73 pathway, (3) With a Wnt-dependent protocol, AFSCs can be induced to express cardiac markers but not to become contractile cells.

This practice-led research project investigates the prison space from an insider’s perspective through the mediums of drawing and digital manipulation. Literature on the daily happenings within the closed society of those incarcerated remains scarce. My examination offers a rare insight into the lived experiences and the effects of isolation, and redresses the imbalance of the prisoner, as an informed stakeholder, in the justice debate. In Western Australia, mobility in closed institutions is severely restricted, and geography is confined to a harsh space. Over many years, the ontological make-up of an individual has the potential to be further damaged or become unhinged. One such phenomena inherent to long-term incarceration is the experience of ‘limited depth perception’, which is a result of restricted movement within the prison estate. My research interrogates the impact the spatial tension induced by the effects of limited movement by using the visual mediums of drawing, digital manipulation and print process. This project has been developed in two phases. The first phase explores how limited agency within the carceral boundary impacts on the human condition and has the ability to initiate change through the anti-portrait. By incorporating the findings from the first phase, the second phase investigates how art can offer a positive resistance to the effects of imprisonment and isolation from society. This project develops a reflexive narrative in the form of a ‘prisoner voice’. Essentially, this voice will provide anecdotal evidence of the lived experience I incur on a daily basis and my struggle to resist the power imbalance of being exposed to an environment of control. Prisoners have limited opportunities to utilise their time in a productive manner to counter the negative effects of incarceration, yet some offenders cultivate a robust intellectual life as a form of resistance and, indeed, for survival. The act of exhibiting artwork in society tests the porosity and liminality of the prison boundary as a form of leakage that makes the prisoner visible to the free-world. This research highlights the need for prisoners to utilise time in a more efficient way; to insulate against the deleterious effects of isolation; and to develop the appropriate skills to become ‘good citizens’. This research was conducted whilst Mr Hillstead was serving a strict security life imprisonment sentence for wilful murder. Mr Hillstead is now deceased.

Orientadores: Felippe Bevilacqua Prado,
Texto em português e inglês
Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Odontologia de Piracicaba
Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-25T07:01:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Rondon_BrunaCarolinaSantos_M.pdf: 1238787 bytes, checksum: ac74cbb3fe7dc50620fea17d3760b48a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014
Resumo: Rica em detalhes, a mandíbula é um osso que pode ser útil na determinação do sexo do indivíduo, pois características presentes nela apresentam alto grau de dimorfismo sexual. No entanto, estudos que correlacionam este traço com outras características individuais têm sido pouco discutidos, e por isso, o objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar a influência do biotipo facial e da condição dentária no dimorfismo sexual, por meio da análise morfométrica da mandíbula humana. Foram avaliadas 900 radiografias panorâmicas. O biotipo facial dos indivíduos já havia sido determinado previamente pelos registros obtidos nas radiografias panorâmicas. Para fazer parte da amostra, foram selecionadas radiografias de indivíduos com faixa etária entre 11-91 anos (±43.3 anos). As medições foram feitas em software específico e apenas um pesquisador realizou as medidas. Em ambos os lados foram realizadas as seguintes medidas: ângulo goníaco, incisura pré-goníaca, profundidade da incisura pré-goníaca, curvatura posterior do ramo mandibular e profundidade da incisura mandibular. As diferenças entre os lados direito e esquerdo da mandíbula, sexo e biotipo facial foram submetidos à análise de variância (ANOVA) para verificar diferenças nos grupos amostrais. Depois, foi aplicado o teste de Tukey- LSD para descrever as diferenças que foram significativas dos grupos. O teste de regressão logística também foi realizado, e a análise de variância (ANOVA) não mostrou diferenças estatisticamente significativas entre os lados de todas as medidas, considerando-se as demais condições (sexo, condição dental e biotipo facial). Não houve diferenças estatisticamente significantes entre o sexo e idade. Os resultados da regressão mostraram que o ângulo goníaco e idade não influenciaram na determinação do sexo pelo modelo proposto, e não foram considerados. A predição do sexo, considerando o modelo em estudo em relação ao biótipo facial é de 63,7%. Não houve influência da condição dentária no modelo, e a taxa de precisão foi maior nos dentados totais (71,3 %). Em conclusão, as alterações mandibulares nas regiões do ângulo goníaco e incisura pré-goníaca ocorrem principalmente de acordo com a condição dentária e sexo
Abstract: Rich in detail, the jaw is a bone that may be useful in determining the sex of the individual, because it features presents a high degree of sexual dimorphism. However, studies that correlate this trait with other individual characteristics have been little discussed, and because of this the aim of the study was to evaluate the influence of facial biotype and dental status in sexual dimorphism, by morphometric analysis of human jaw. 900 panoramic radiographs were evaluated. Facial biotype of the individuals had been previously determined by clinical exams and clinical records of the panoramic radiographs. For inclusion in the sample were selected panoramic radiographs with age group 11-91 years (±43.3 years). The measurements were made in specific software and adjusted according to the magnification of the panoramic imaging. Only one researcher performed the measurements. On both sides, the following measurements were performed: gonial angle, antegonial angle, antegonial depth, posterior curvature of the mandibular branch, depth of mandibular incisure. Differences between the right and left sides of the mandible, sex and facial biotype of the individual were subject to analysis of variance (ANOVA) to verify the sample groups difference. After we applied the Tukey-LSD test to describe the significant differences of the groups. The logistic regression test was performed showing a setting of appropriate model by Hosmer & Lemeshow test and Chi-square tests. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed no statistically significant differences between the sides of any measures, considering the other conditions (sex, dental condition and facial biotype). There were no statistically significant differences between the sexes and age groups. The results of regression showed that the gonial angle and age did not influence the sex determination by the model proposed, and, were not considered. The accurate prediction of the sex considering the targeted model in relation to the facial biotype is 63.7%. Have no influence of the dental status in the model, and the accuracy rate was higher in total dentate (71.3%). In conclusion, the mandibular change in gonial and antegonial regions occurs mainly according to dental status and sex
Mestrado
Odontologia Legal e Deontologia
Mestra em Biologia Buco-Dental