At the limits : postcolonial and hyperreal translations of Australian poetry

This dissertation employs the methodologies of postcolonial theory and hyperreal theory (following Baudrillard), in order to investigate articulations of identity, nation and representation in contemporary Australian poetry. Informed by a comparative analysis of contemporary Latin American poetry and cultural theory (in translation), as a means of re-examining the Australian context, this dissertation develops a new transnational model of Australian poetics. The central thesis of this dissertation is that contemporary Australian poetry engages with the postcolonial at its limits. That is, at those sites of postcoloniality that are already mapped by theory, but also at those that occur beyond postcolonial theory. The hyperreal is understood as one such limit, traceable within the poetry but silenced in conventional postcolonial theory. As another limit to the postcolonial, this dissertation reads Latin American poetry and theory, in whose texts postcolonial theory is actively resisted, but where postcolonial and hyperreal poetics nevertheless intersect. The original critical context constructed by this dissertation enables a new set of readings of Australian identity through its poetry. Within this new interpretative context, the readings of contemporary Australian poetry articulate a psycho-social postcoloniality; offer a template for future transactions between national poetry and global politics; and develop a model of the postcolonial hyperreal.

Critical intellectual resources for praxis in physical education teacher education : the limits to rationality

This study focuses on the way four student-teachers engage with critical social discourses in a year-long physical education unit. The student-teachers were encouraged to examine and (re)construct their pedagogy through their interactions with critical discourses. Drawing on their personal theories and actions, the study examines the extent to which critical intellectual resources can provide pedagogical frames of reference that are 'practical and non-ideal'. Using a critical ethnographic methodology the students' interactions with critical social discourses are diagnosed across three levels. The first level is the case study presentations of each student's engagement with the critical intellectual resources and the extent to which they were able to understand and implement them. The second level involves an interpretation of the individual cases that is informed by Brian Fay's (1987) metatheoretical reconstruction of the critical social sciences. In the third stage of diagnosis the study focuses on retheorising critical aspirations for praxis pedagogy in physical education. Critical scholars within the physical education arena argue that critical praxis represents a pedagogy based on a 'world view' of the potential for agents to engage in a rational reordering of their qualitative existence. The essence of their claim is that critical discourses have the potential to facilitate a mode of praxis through which physical education teachers might better recognise, understand, critique and transform their values and practices. However, there is broad recognition that the translation of social-critical discourses into a pedagogic context is highly problematic. Interpretation of the study is provided by Fay's (1987) 'limits to change' thesis which recognises that critical aspirations must ultimately be adopted and implemented by real people in real settings. As a diagnostic frame of reference, Fay insists that a 'complete' critical theory [of physical education] be simultaneously scientific, critical, practical and non-ideal. In seeking to temper the "e; over-rationalistic"e; tendency of the critical project he recognises the historical, embedded, embodied and traditional nature of human existence Criticisms of critical theories of education traverse a number of philosophic perspectives. Recent post-structural criticisms of truth regimes, knowledge-power differentials, rationality and agency have seriously destabilised modernist justifications of the critical agenda. Critical theories of physical education have not been absolved of such criticism. A prominent element of this study is its promotion of a dialectical relationship between agency and structure to extend critical conceptualisations of physical education pedagogy. Through the mediation of structural determinism and self-determination this research proffers a means of practically advancing a critical praxis in physical education. The conclusion of this thesis outlines some broad recommendations pertaining to the introduction of social critical discourses in physical education teacher education.

Evaluating lubricants in sheet metal forming

The sheet metal forming process basically involves the shaping of sheet metal of various thickness and material properties into the desired contours. This metal forming process has been extensively used by the automotive industry to manufacture both car panels and parts. Over the years numerous investigations have been conducted on various aspects of the manufacturing process with varied success. In recent years the requirements on the sheet metal forming industry have headed towards improved stability in the forming process while lowering environmental burdens. Therefore the overall aim of this research was to identify a technique for developing lubricant formulations that are insensitive to the sheet metal forming process. Due to the expense of running experiments on production presses and to improve time efficiency of the process the evaluation procedure was required to be performed in a laboratory. Preliminary investigations in the friction/lubricant system identified several laboratory tests capable of measuring lubricant performance and their interaction with process variables. However, little was found on the correlation between laboratory tests and production performance of lubricants. Therefore the focus of the research switched to identifying links between the performance of lubricants in a production environment and laboratory tests. To reduce the influence of external parameters all significant process variables were identified and included in the correlation study to ensure that lubricant formulations could be desensitised to all significant variables. The significant process variables were found to be sensitive to die position, for instance: contact pressure, blank coating of the strips and surface roughness of the dies were found significant for the flat areas of the die while no variables affected friction when polished drawbeads were used. The next phase was to identify the interaction between the significant variables and the main lubricant ingredient groups. Only the fatty material ingredient group (responsible for the formation of boundary lubricant regimes) was found to significantly influence friction with no interaction between the ingredient groups. The influence of varying this ingredient group was then investigated in a production part and compared to laboratory results. The correlation between production performance and laboratory tests was found to be test dependant. With both the Flat Face Friction test and the Drawbead Simulator unaffected by changes in the lubricant formulation, while the Flat Bottom Cup test showing similar results as the production trial. It is believed that the lack of correlation between the friction tests and the production performance of the lubricant is due to the absence of bulk plastic deformation of the strip. For this reason the Ohio State University (OSU) friction test was incorporated in the lubricant evaluation procedure along with a Flat Bottom Cup test. Finally, it is strongly believed that if the lubricant evaluation procedure highlighted in this research is followed then lubricant formulations can be developed confidently in the laboratory.

Public space : its mythopoetic foundations and the limits of the law

Drawing on William Dawes' unpublished notebooks on the Indigenous languages spoken around Sydney Cove at the time of white settlement, this article hopes to provoke critical reflection on the limits of the law. Dawes' record of communication with Patyegarang documents a transaction that was both political and erotic, both about the law and in defiance of it. In performances that were gestural as well as verbal, they marked out a middle ground where the laws governing both of them were placed in parentheses and new, provisional, rules of exchange improvised. This article notices the existence of this middle ground, and marks its disappearance in subsequent legal discourse about the status of Indigenous people. Ultimately, it offers a reflection on the laws that govern the meeting place which the middle ground underwrites. That is, before public space became fixed for the legally binding discourse of politics, it was mobile and self-constituting. Is this simply a myth or is it a mythopoetic mechanism for rethinking the grounding of law in Australia? If it is the latter, then the next step will be to establish a middle ground of exchange with Indigenous law-giving systems.

Brennan torpedo, monorail and helicopter : a study of innovative activity in the process of forming three related military weapons

In the context of nineteenth-century British defence planning Actor-network theory is used to examine technological and social activity in the development and operation of a secret, successful military weapon, the Brennan torpedo. Also in two subsequent inventions the continuity and development of a core innovative concept, gyroscopy, is traced.

Analysis of springback variation in sheet metal forming

This thesis investigated how the variation in inputs, such as material and processing conditions affected the shape defect phenomenon (springback) for sheet metal forming processes. Using a stochastic Finite Element modelling tool, it was found that the material type and fluctuations in material properties significantly influenced the variation in springback.

Thinking at the limits

Science education has remained relatively silent on the contemporary forces currently shaping its form. This thesis uses postcolonial theory to extend beyond science education's traditional research areas and explore how globalisation has influenced its recent policies and practices, and its growing interest in sociocultural issues.

Influence of processing on the roll forming characteristics of recovery annealed steel

Roll forming (including corrugating) of high strength steel has for many years been treated as an art rather than a science. This work, by using analysis at both the microscopic and standard mechanical level, has demystified the production of these high strength steels, and has helped point the direction for further development of these efficient construction products.

Investigation on the forming behaviour of metal/polymer laminates

A metal/polymer laminate is a new light weight sheet material suitable to replace conventional steel or aluminium sheet in future car designs. In this study the effect of material composition and process conditions on the forming behaviour of metal/polymer laminates in sheet metal forming was investigated by experimental, analytical and numerical methods.

Experimental analysis of friction in forming automotive coated steels

The thesis addressed and answered a number of key issues in the experimental analysis of friction in sheet forming operations. Conventional friction theories were linked with the properties of sheet coatings and the process geometries. Newly derived mathematical models extended the analysis of friction in sheet metal forming applications.