Marxist Comrades or Capitalist Pigs? : From Musical Proletarians to Musical Capitalists in Roddy Doyle's The Commitments

Marxist themes of Roddy Doyle’s The Commitments have not often been looked at. Yet, they are decidedly prominent. The band make use of a Marxist image and of collectivist easy-played, easily-understood music in order to gain working class listeners. In fact, the band itself is based on an egalitarian structure, until it, due to an increasing individualist wish for success, falls apart. The aim of this essay is thus to argue, through pointing to the Marxist rhetoric of the band and the hypocrisy around it, and through a comparative reading between The Commitments and Orwell’s Animal Farm, that The Commitments has an allegorical value, much like Animal Farm does, when it comes to depicting the way Marxism has worked and failed as it has been practised in reality.

An investigation of worn work roll materials used in the finishing stands of the hot strip mill for steel rolling

The surface failure characteristics of different work roll materials, i.e. High Speed Steel, High Chromium Iron and Indefinite Chill Iron, used in the finishing stands of a hot strip mill have been investigated using stereo microscopy, 3D optical profilometry, scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The results show that the surface failure mechanisms of work rolls for hot rolling are very complex, involving plastic deformation, abrasive wear, adhesive wear, mechanical and thermal induced cracking, material transfer and oxidation. Despite the differences in chemical composition and microstructure, the tribological response of the different work roll materials was found to be strongly dependent on the material microstructure and especially the presence and distribution of microstructural constituents, such as the different carbide phases and graphite (in the case of Indefinite Chill Iron). Cracking and chipping of the work roll surfaces, both having a negative impact on work roll wear, are strongly influenced by the presence of carbides, carbide networks and graphite in the work roll surface. Consequently, the amount of carbide forming elements as well as the manufacturing process must be controlled in order to obtain an optimised microstructure and a predictable wear rate.

Genetic Control of Residual Variance for Teat Number in Pigs

The genetic improvement in litter size in pigs has been substantial during the last 10-15 years. The number of teats on the sow must increase as well to meet the needs of the piglets, because each piglet needs access to its own teat. We applied a genetic heterogeneity model on teat numberin sows, and estimated medium-high heritability for teat number (0.5), but low heritability for residual variance (0.05), indicating that selection for reduced variance might have very limited effect. A numerically positive correlation (0.8) between additive genetic breeding values for mean and for variance was found, but because of the low heritability for residual variance, the variance will increase very slowly with the mean.