Polyharmonic Vibrations of Human Middle Ear Implanted by Means of Nonlinear Coupler

This paper presents a possibility of quasi-periodic and chaotic vibrations in the human middle ear stimulated by an implant, which is fixed to the incus by means of a nonlinear coupler. The coupler represents a classical element made of titanium and shape memory alloy. A five-degrees-of-freedom model of lumped masses is used to represent the implanted middle ear for both normal and pathological ears. The model is engaged to numerically find the influence of the nonlinear coupler on stapes and implant dynamics. As a result, regions of parameters regarding the quasi-periodic, polyharmonic and irregular motion are identified as new contributions in ear bio-mechanics. The nonlinear coupler causes irregular motion, which is undesired for the middle ear. However, the use of the stiff coupler also ensures regular vibrations of the stapes for higher frequencies. As a consequence, the utility of the nonlinear coupler is proven.

Lo clásico en el siglo XVIII: cuestión de conciencia de clase

Este trabajo aborda el empleo del elemento clásico en la obra poética de tres autores líricos del siglo XVIII español poco conocidos: el conde de Noroña, José de Vargas y Ponce y José María Vaca de Guzmán y Manrique. Todos ellos comparten un amplio conocimiento de la Antigüedad grecorromana y, además, todos ellos, de acuerdo con la actitud de su época hacia la herencia clásica, hacen un uso ilustrado de la herencia clásica, con un evidente afán ideológico y elitista, por encima del interés estrictamente estético o artístico.PALABRAS CLAVEPoesía lírica, siglo XVIII, tradición clásica. This paper délas with the use of classical element in the poetic works of three scarcely known Spanish lyrical poets who composed their work in the 18thcentury: the Count ofNoroña, José de Vargas y Ponce, and José María Vaca de Guzmán y Manrique. The three of them share an accurate knowledge of the Greco-Roman Antiquity and, in adittion, all of them, according to the attitude of their time towards the classical heritage, make use of the Classical Tradition in an illustrated way, with an ideological and elitist aim, rather than with an esthetic or an artistic one.KEYWORDSLyrical poetry, 18th century, classical tradition.

Who Killed Chevalier Gluck?

This chapter examines how Christoph Willibald Ritter von Gluck's opera reforms responded to Victorian culture to become the revolutionary icons his contemporaries believed them to be. Gluck was music tutor to Marie Antoinette in Vienna and, after her marriage to Louis XVI, followed her to Paris, where he was a regular at Versailles. He died two years before the Revolution broke out. His music, according to Jean-Baptiste Leclerc, led to the shattering of the throne of France. The chapter considers formal elements of composition as well as frames of comprehension: the role of classicism in the critical understanding of theater; the role of dance in opera; the role of the chorus as a specifically classical element in modern opera. It also analyzes the differences between Vienna and Paris and London as sites for Gluck's operatic success and failure—within the incipient but self-conscious nationalism of the era.