Re-imagining Empire: Ethiopian Political Culture under Yohannis IV (1872–89)

 Dissertation Abstract  

The Legitimising Project: The Coronation Rite and the Written Word

The article and its argument are based on a hitherto unexplored Ethiopian chronicle, which offers a uniquely detailed description of a series of enthronement rites. The article explores and deciphers symbolism displayed in these acts, which was drawn from the past and remodelled to form ideological underpinning for the monarchy of Yoḥannǝs IV (1872–89) and to legitimise his imperial project. The article argues that despite the fact that the record of these events is likely to have been ‘adjusted’ by Ethiopian chroniclers, their writings still points to what they thought should happen during a ritual in order for it to be effective. Consequently, the authors of the chronicle revealed to us the role of ritual in the legitimising project of late 19th-century Ethiopia

Study of biocompatibility of nanostructured materials on in vitro and in vivo models

Els biomaterials tenen un paper important en la indústria de la salut. Cada any, s'estima que el nombre de dispositius mèdics utilitzats en humans és d'uns 1,5 milions de dispositius individuals, segons l'Organització Mundial de la Salut, amb uns 10.000 tipus de grups de dispositius genèrics disponibles a tot el món. A mesura que sorgeixen nous dispositius, el tema de la biocompatibilitat d'aquests materials es torna més rellevant. Aquesta tesi estudia la biocompatibilitat de biomaterials i la seva interacció amb teixits i cèl·lules combinant models in vitro i in vivo. Els biomaterials estudiats es classifiquen en biomaterials sintètics (polímers, silici, titani i aliatges) i biomaterials derivats de la naturalesa, que al seu torn, es classifiquen en xenogènics, derivats de materials naturals però estranys per a l'organisme i biomaterials autòlegs, derivats dels teixits dels mateixos. organisme. En el cas dels materials sintètics, es va demostrar com les diferents estratègies de funcionalització de les superfícies (en particular, l'efecte del recobriment de proteïnes i la topografia superficial) afecten la resposta de les cèl·lules de mamífer. Els biomaterials autòlegs estaven representats per fibrina rica en plaquetes (PRF), derivada de la sang del pacient.Los biomateriales juegan un papel importante en la industria del cuidado de la salud. Cada año, la cantidad de dispositivos médicos utilizados en humanos se estima en alrededor de 1,5 millones de dispositivos individuales, según la Organización Mundial de la Salud, con alrededor de 10 000 tipos de grupos de dispositivos genéricos disponibles en todo el mundo. A medida que surgen nuevos dispositivos, el tema de la biocompatibilidad de estos materiales se vuelve más relevante. Esta tesis estudia la biocompatibilidad de biomateriales y su interacción con tejidos y células combinando modelos in vitro e in vivo. Los biomateriales estudiados se clasifican en sintéticos (polímeros, silicio, titanio y aleaciones) y biomateriales derivados de la naturaleza, que a su vez, se clasifican en xenogénicos, derivados de materiales naturales pero extraños para el organismo y biomateriales autólogos, derivados de los tejidos del mismo. organismo. En el caso de los materiales sintéticos, se mostró cómo las diferentes estrategias de funcionalización de las superficies (en particular, el efecto del recubrimiento de proteínas y la topografía de la superficie) afectan la respuesta de las células de mamíferos. Los biomateriales autólogos estuvieron representados por fibrina rica en plaquetas (PRF), derivada de la sangre del paciente.Biomaterials play a substantial role in the health care industry. Each year, the number of medical devices used in humans is estimated to be around 1.5 million individual devices, according to the World Health Organization, with about 10 000 types of generic device groups available worldwide. As new devices emerge, the topic of the biocompatibility of these materials becomes more relevant. This thesis studies biocompatibility of biomaterials and their interaction with tissues and cells combining in vitro and in vivo models. The studied biomaterials are classified in synthetic (polymers, silicon, titanium and alloys) and nature-derived biomaterials, which in turn, classify in xenogenic, derived from natural materials but foreign for the organism and autologous biomaterials, derived from the tissues of the same organism. In the case of synthetic materials, it was shown how different functionalization strategies of surfaces (in particular, the effect of protein coating and surface topography) affect mammalian cell response. Autologous biomaterials were represented by platelet rich fibrin (PRF), derived from the blood of the patient. Their potential as implantable system was studied in vitro and in vivo

Practical Approach to International Business Studies in English at Polish Universities

The subject of this paper is the presentation of BA and MA International Business (IB) studies in English as a new practice on the Polish educational market. The main objective of this paper is to examine the IB studies programmes in English at the University of Gdansk - (UG) and to present the practical approach of their functioning combined with some recommendations. The results show that the UG has established competitive and attractive programmes, although at lower cost levels compared to universities in other countries where the IB studies have longer tradition and good reputation. It is considered that IB studies cement the international position of UG. This article presents both quantitative and qualitative data

Contextual effects on smile perception and recognition memory

Most past research has focused on the role played by social context information in emotion classification, such as whether a display is perceived as belonging to one emotion category or another. The current study aims to investigate whether the effect of context extends to the interpretation of emotion displays, i.e. smiles that could be judged either as posed or spontaneous readouts of underlying positive emotion. A between-subjects design (N = 93) was used to investigate the perception and recall of posed smiles, presented together with a happy or polite social context scenario. Results showed that smiles seen in a happy context were judged as more spontaneous than the same smiles presented in a polite context. Also, smiles were misremembered as having more of the physical attributes (i.e., Duchenne marker) associated with spontaneous enjoyment when they appeared in the happy than polite context condition. Together, these findings indicate that social context information is routinely encoded during emotion perception, thereby shaping the interpretation and recognition memory of facial expressions

MRAS-Type Speed and Flux Estimator with Additional Adaptation Mechanism for the Induction Motor Drive

This paper deals with a novel Model ReferenceAdaptive System (MRAS) estimator of the rotor flux andspeed reconstruction for induction motor drive. Theproposed estimator is based directly on the mathematicalmodel of the induction motor. In comparison with existingmethods the additional variable is introduced, which has toreduce partly the estimator sensitivity to the rotor timeconstant changes. Chosen simulation tests of the proposedsolution are presented

On compliance of business processes with business contracts

This paper addresses the problem of ensuring compliance of business processes, implemented within and across organisational boundaries, with the constraints stated in related business contracts. In order to deal with the complexity of this problem we propose two solutions that allow for a systematic and increasingly automated support for addressing two specific compliance issues. One solution provides a set of guidelines for progressively transforming contract conditions into business processes that are consistent with contract conditions thus avoiding violation of the rules in contract. Another solution compares rules in business contracts and rules in business processes to check for possible inconsistencies. Both approaches rely on a computer interpretable representation of contract conditions that embodies contract semantics. This semantics is described in terms of a logic based formalism allowing for the description of obligations, prohibitions, permissions and violations conditions in contracts. This semantics was based on an analysis of typical building blocks of many commercial, financial and government contracts. The study proved that our contract formalism provides a good foundation for describing key types of conditions in contracts, and has also given several insights into valuable transformation techniques and formalisms needed to establish better alignment between these two, traditionally separate areas of research and endeavour. The study also revealed a number of new areas of research, some of which we intend to address in near future