A commentary on book 6 of Achilles Tatius Leucippe and Clitophon

Achilles Tatius' novel, Leucippe and Clitophon (2nd c. CE), is a product of the literary experimentation in prose fiction during the Greek intellectual renaissance under the Roman Empire known as the Second Sophistic. For all appearances, the story follows the usual narrative course of the ancient Greek erotic adventure novels: boy meets girl, love occurs at first sight, and Fate attempts to keep them apart, triggering an odyssey of bizarre escapades and daring exploits that reaches its inevitable happy conclusion with their reunion and marriage. Achilles Tatius, however, takes each of these tropes far beyond their usual scope, displaying a ludic (and at times ludicrous) panache for defying the genre. This thesis provides the first extensive literary and philological commentary devoted exclusively to the Sixth Book of the novel. I examine both Achilles' unconventional approach to genre and storytelling, and his play on prevailing theories of psychology, physiology, and philosophy to enrich and enliven his narrative

Modernism and professionalism in American architecture, 1919-1933

Thesis (Ph. D. in Architecture and Environmental Studies)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1993.Vita.Includes bibliographical references (v. 2, p. 371-395).This dissertation examines the dominant conventions of architectural practice in the United States between 1919 and 1933. It proceeds from two assumptions: first, that by the 1900s, both the American Institute of Architects (AlA) and the numerous professional journals available to architects across the country solidified the profession nationally and yielded a coherent field within which practitioners could debate the content of their professional service; second, that within the context of its national discourse, the architecture profession drew inspiration for its effort to identify a social function for itself from the White City Movement which forged a link between the architect and a national political, industrial and cultural leadership drawn together by American Progressivism. The study focuses on the period following the demise of the White City Movement during which American architects cast off their allegiance to its traditional aesthetic formulae but retained the aspiration to associate themselves and their work with prevailing trends in a national political and social milieu. It demonstrates that in their efforts to redefine the terms of their professional service, American architects invoked the popular terminology of Scientific Management, Technocracy, Fordism, and the nostrums of the 'New Era' and promised 'efficiency' in their work and in the industries they presumed to manage. It reveals that within these efforts of professional redefinition, the professional ideology supporting the architect's aspirations for work converged with a modernist idealism espousing the value of technical expertise as a medium of social emancipation and progress. By giving evidence of a widespread and indigenous modernism that perceived a social benefit in the architect's capacity to utilize industrial technology, this project amends the dominant historical view which attributes the re-emergence of an American Modem Movement in the 1930s to the 'diaspora' of European artists and intellectuals before to WW II. This study has two parts. In Part One, it examines first the canons of Beaux-Arts Classicism and their gradual dissolution after World War I under the pressure of criticism from writers such as Ralph Adams Cram, Louis Sullivan and Lewis Mumford and through the work of the AlA's PostWar Committee; and second, the institutional structure of the AlA and its organizational ideologies in the 1920s. In Part Two, it looks more closely at the evolving conventions of professional service, demonstrating that American architects reached a consensus about the necessity of a 'new' architecture which identified itself in three areas: first, in its rejection of the Beaux-Arts method of interpreting a building program through a stylistic rendition of its social 'character' in favor of design strategies that maximized usable space; second, in its abandonment of the visual paradigm of the White City in favor of the expansionist rhetoric of Regional Planning; and third, in its disavowal of stylistic conventions based on historical precedent in favor of styles that both demonstrated a discontinuity with the past and celebrated an evolving consumerist 'utopia' populated by industrial commodities.by Paul Louis Bentel.Ph.D

Empirical orthogonal function analysis of GRACE gravity data

The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) twin-satellite mission has been providing measurements of the time-varying gravity field of the Earth for almost seven years now. Gravity changes on Earth are due to mass changes and play an important role in Earth sciences. Monthly maps of mass changes are derived from the satellite measurements and need to be interpreted. The major difficulty in analyzing GRACE data are North-South stripes in the estimated gravity fields, caused by the fact that the GRACE satellites are flying in a near-polar orbit, one following the other. A microwave ranging instrument is measuring the distance between the two spacecraft, which is about 220 km. Due to these longitudinal stripes, major errors, analyzing the GRACE gravity fields is demanding. The technique of empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis is investigated in this thesis, and it is demonstrated the performance of EOF analysis for separating signal from noise and errors, and for identifying different sources of gravity changes in a real GRACE data set. EOF analysis is explained from a theoretical point of view and is applied to the GRACE data. Basically, the EOF method gives a transformation of the data into a new coordinate frame in the data space, where the axis are chosen according to the data variances. The core of the method is a singular value decomposition of the data matrix. The components obtained from this decomposition need to be interpreted, and signal has to be separated from noise. Additionally, EOF analysis can be used as a filtering tool. In the detailed data analysis, benefits and shortcomings of the EOF method are studied and described with respect to GRACE data. Global maps of mass changes as well as different smaller regions are analyzed, and global and regional results are compared.Die "Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment" (GRACE) Mission liefert seit fast sieben Jahren Messungen der zeitlichen Änderungen des Erdschwerefeldes. Diese werden durch Massenverschiebungen auf der Erde hervorgerufen und spielen daher in den Umweltwissenschaften eine bedeutende Rolle. Bei der Auswertung monatlicher Schwerefeldänderungen aus GRACE Messungen bereiten Nord-Süd-Streifen in den Feldern die größten Schwierigkeiten. Diese Streifen entstehen durch den fast polaren Orbit, auf dem die beiden GRACE Satelliten, mit einem Abstand von ungefähr 220 km, einander folgen. Ein Mikrowellenmesssystem misst hochgenau die Abstandsänderungen zwischen den beiden Satelliten. Auf Grund des starken Rauschens, welches die Streifen verursachen, ist die Auswertung der monatlichen Schwerefelder schwierig. In dieser Diplomarbeit wird die Methode der "Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) Analysis" hinsichtlich ihrer Eignung für eine Auswertung echter GRACE Felder untersucht. Anhand dieses Datensatzes wird das Potential der EOF Methode, um Signale von Rauschen zu trennen und einzelne Quellen der Massenänderungen zu identifizieren, demonstriert. Zunächst wird die EOF Analyse von einem theoretischen Standpunkt aus erklärt und dann auf den Datensatz angewendet. Grundsätzlich wird dabei in ein neues Koordinatensystem transformiert, dessen Achsen an den Varianzen der Daten ausgerichtet sind. Der Kern dieser Methode ist eine Singulärwertzerlegung der Datenmatrix. Die Komponenten, die diese Zerlegung leifert, müssen dann hinsichtlich Signal und Rauschen identifiziert werden. Die EOF Analyse mit anschließender Synthese der Felder kann auch als Filter benutzt werden. In einer ausführlichen Untersuchung der GRACE Daten werden Vor- und Nachteile der EOF Zerlegung aufgezeigt und erklärt. Dabei werden sowohl globale Schwerefelder aus GRACE, als auch verscheidene regional Beispiele untersucht. Ergebnisse aus globalen und regionalen Untersuchen werden dabei verglichen

The influence of soil types and stabilizing agents on the engineering properties of stabilized soil for use in embarkment dams

The thesis considers the feasibility of using marginal soils, stabilized with hydrated lime or ordinary Portland Cement as an alternative construction material for embankment dams. A n historical review discusses some prior successful applications o f soil-cement, soil-lime and roller contacted concrete in hydraulic structures. T he principles of soil stabilization with lime and cement Me presented as an introduction to the laboratory testing programme. The testing program me considers aspects of engineering properties fundamental to embankment d am construction. These include compaction characteristics, unconfined compressive strength, shear strength, flexural strength, shrinkage characteristics and permeability. Since the stabilized material will require protection by a durable facing, the durability of the materials are considered, b u t to a limited extent, as are the thermal properties. Further research is required to investigate the suitability of the presently accepted durability test methods which appear to be to o harsh for soil-lime. The engineering properties o f the untreated soils, which would probably n o t be considered suitable for conventional embankment dam s construction, are significantly enhanced by the addition of the stabilizers. The resulting stabilized materials present the designer with a variety o f alternative materials suitable for dam construction. Cost savings relative to conventional dam building materials result from a significant reduction in the construction time. Although the properties of soil-lime and soil-cement may differ, e.g. in time rate of strength development, this is seen as an advantage in the consideration of alternative design options in arriving at a creative cost- effective solutio

A canvas for the ethical design of learning experiences with digital tools

The use of digital tools has drastically increased in engineering education, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. These tools generate important ethical issues, in particular in terms of privacy and fairness. However, very few teacher training programmes address those topics, which means that teachers are often left to figure out by themselves how to address these issues when they want (or have) to use digital tools in their teaching. In this workshop, participants will be introduced to a pragmatic approach to the ethical design of learning experiences that involve digital tools using a visual thinking guide called a ‘canvas’. Applied and hands-on, this workshop will help participants to develop a practical understanding of the specific ethical issues related to the use of digital tools in teaching and to integrate ethical reflection into design processes when digital technology is involved

Expression of the androgen receptor and an androgen-responsive protein, apolipoprotein D, in human breast cancer.

Little is known regarding the activity and function of the androgen receptor (AR) in human breast cancer. In the present study AR was evaluated in untreated primary breast cancers using antisera to the amino- and carboxy-termini of the receptor and quantitated using colour video image analysis. A strong correlation between tissue concentration and percentage AR-positive cells was observed for each antiserum. However, comparison of percentage positive cells using the amino- and carboxy-terminal AR antisera in individual breast cancer specimens revealed a subset of tumours with discordantly increased staining for the carboxy terminus. These findings suggest the presence of amino-terminal-truncated AR in a proportion of breast cancer cells or presence of AR mutations or associated protein alterations that affect binding of the amino-terminal AR antiserum. Immunohistochemical expression of the androgen-regulated glycoprotein, apolipoprotein D (apo-D), was also evaluated in the breast cancer specimens. Focal positivity of apo-D staining, which did not always co-localise with AR-positive cells, was observed within breast tumours. Furthermore, no correlation was evident between percentage positive cells stained for AR and apo-D in breast cancer specimens. These findings indicate that, although apo-D expression is androgen regulated in human breast cancer cell lines in vitro, its expression in primary breast cancers may be regulated by other factors. The expression of AR in primary breast cancers also suggests that the receptor may be involved in tumour responsiveness or in abnormal responses to endocrine therapies

A systematic review of methods to immobilise breast tissue during adjuvant breast irradiation

Greater use of 3D conformal, Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy (IMRT) and external beam partial breast irradiation following local excision (LE) for breast cancer has necessitated a review of the effectiveness of immobilisation methods to stabilise breast tissue. To identify the suitability of currently available breast (rather than thorax) immobilisation techniques an appraisal of the literature was undertaken. The aim was to identify and evaluate the benefit of additional or novel immobilisation approaches (beyond the standard supine, single arm abducted and angled breast board technique adopted in most radiotherapy departments). A database search was supplemented with an individual search of key radiotherapy peer-reviewed journals, author searching, and searching of the grey literature. A total of 27 articles met the inclusion criteria. The review identified good reproducibility of the thorax using the standard supine arm-pole technique. Reproducibility with the prone technique appears inferior to supine methods (based on data from existing randomised controlled trials). Assessing the effectiveness of additional breast support devices (such as rings or thermoplastic material) is hampered by small sample sizes and a lack of randomised data for comparison. Attention to breast immobilisation is recommended, as well as agreement on how breast stability should be measured using volumetric imaging. Keywords: Breast, immobilisation, positioning, reproducibility, review.</p

PoPSAT (Polar Precipitation SATellite)

The terrestrial water cycle is a unique system on planet Earth. It is directly influenced by our changing climate with most drastic effects in the polar regions. A main element of the water cycle is precipitation, and it is only very sparsely observed at high latitudes. We propose a new satellite mission, POPSat, to observe snow and light rain at high latitudes, as well as snowfall at mid latitudes. The satellite will be equipped with a dual band (Ka and W bands) phased array antenna radar and provide 3D information about precipitation and clouds. The horizontal resolution of 2 km will exceed all other observations, and the measurements at high latitudes, together with the capability to monitor snowfall, will complement the GPM mission’s observations. By filling this gap, POPSat will provide essential data for improving global weather and climate models