Pucelle : the epic of Joan of Arc

A thesis comprising a creative component in the form of an epic about the history of Joan of Arc and an exegetical component concerned with redefining the epic genre and exploring the author's project.

Iran, war, displacement and my choice of Joan of Arc

This paper discusses the personal perceptions that have shaped my poetics in writing La Pucelle: an Epic of Joan of Arc as part of a PhD candidature in the School of Communication and Creative Arts, Deakin University.

Picturing Australian history: visual texts in nonfiction for children

Time is one of the most prominent themes in the relatively young genre of children's literature, for the young, like adults, want to know about the past. The historical novel of the West grew out of Romanticism, with its exploration of the inner world of feeling, and it grew to full vigor in the era of imperialism and the exploration of the physical world. From the end of the 18th century, children's books flourished, partly in response to these cultural and political influences. After Darwin, Freud, and Einstein, literary works began to grapple with skepticism about the nature of time itself. This book explores how children's writers have presented the theme and concept of time past. While the book looks primarily at literature of the 19th and 20th centuries, it considers a broad range of historical material treated in works from that period. Included are discussions of such topics as Joan of Arc in children's literature, the legacy of Robinson Crusoe, colonial and postcolonial children's literature, the Holocaust, and the supernatural. International in scope, the volume examines history and collective memory in Portuguese children's fiction, Australian history in picture books, Norwegian children's literature, and literary treatments of the great Irish famine. So too, the expert contributors are from diverse countries and backgrounds.

Sacred time after emigration : a study of the Holy Mother Festival in Zavoj

In Zavoj, a mountainous village in the Republic of Macedonia, the Day of the Holy Mother is the most significant day in the village's ritual calendar. The Day of the Holy Mother, like other holy days associated with saints, is a religious festival in the Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar; and Zavoj, like other villages, identifies with a particular holy day, in this case that of the Holy Mother. Festival is historically and etymologically linked to feast, a celebration in honour of gods, and the Day of the Holy Mother, like the two principal feasts in the Christian calendar, the Feast of Nativity of our Lord (Christmas) and the Feast of Resurrection (Easter), is a religious celebration that includes a feast in honour of the saint, traditionally as a breaking of a fast. Importantly, many Zavoj emigrants return to the village for the festival on the Day of the Holy Mother. Over recent years both village and the festival have been transformed, due to large and continuing emigration and the demise of the resident peasant generation. This chapter will examine the changes in the festival, comparing that of 1988, when the village was inhabited, with that of 2007, when there were only a few people resident and by which time many of the peasant generation had passed on. As a result of emigration the village is emptied of its inhabitants, yet it remains the site of, and destination for, the continuity of the annual festival.

Upgrading arc median shortest path problem for an urban transportation network

In this paper, we propose an algorithm for an upgrading arc median shortest path problem for a transportation network. The problem is to identify a set of nondominated paths that minimizes both upgrading cost and overall travel time of the entire network. These two objectives are realistic for transportation network problems, but of a conflicting and noncompensatory nature. In addition, unlike upgrading cost which is the sum of the arc costs on the path, overall travel time of the entire network cannot be expressed as a sum of arc travel times on the path. The proposed solution approach to the problem is based on heuristic labeling and exhaustive search techniques, in criteria space and solution space, respectively. The first approach labels each node in terms of upgrading cost, and deletes cyclic and infeasible paths in criteria space. The latter calculates the overall travel time of the entire network for each feasible path, deletes dominated paths on the basis of the objective vector and identifies a set of Pareto optimal paths in the solution space. The computational study, using two small-scale transportation networks, has demonstrated that the algorithm proposed herein is able to efficiently identify a set of nondominated median shortest paths, based on two conflicting and noncompensatory objectives.

Robust control applied to metal spraying for rapid tooling

The spray forming process is a novel method of rapidly manufacturing tools and dies for stamping and injection operations. The process sprays molten tool steel from a set of arc spray guns onto a ceramic former to build up a thick steel shell. The volumetric contraction that occurs as the steel cools is offset by a volumetric expansion taking place within the sprayed steel, which allows the dimensional accurate tools to be produced. To ensure that the required phase transformation takes place, the temperature of the steel is regulated during spraying. The sprayed metal acts both as a source of mass and a source of heat and by adjusting the rate at which metal is sprayed; the surface temperature profile over the surface of the steel can be controlled. The temperature profile is measured using a thermal imaging camera and regulated by adjusting the rate at which the guns spray the steel. Because the temperature is regulated by adjusting the feed rate to an actuator that is moving over the surface, this is an example of mobile control, which is a class of distributed parameter control. The dynamic system has been controlled using a PI controller before. The paper describes the application of H∞ tracking type controller as the desire was for the average temperature to follow a desired profile. A study on the controllability of the underlying system was aimed at.

Exposure to fumes and gases during welding operations

The exposure to fumes and gases is one of the hazards associated with welding operations. Apart from research conducted on the mechanism of fume and gas formation and the relationship between fume formation rates and common welding parameters, little is known about the exposure process during welding. This research project aimed to identify the factors that influence exposure, develop an understanding of their role in the exposure process and through this understanding formulate strategies for the effective control of exposure during welding. To address these aims a literature review and an experimental program was conducted The literature review surveyed epidemiological, toxicological and exposure data. The experimental program involved three approaches, the first, an evaluation of the factors that influence exposure by assessing a metal inert gas/mild steel welding process in a workshop setting. The second approach involved the study of exposure in a controlled environment provided by a wind tunnel and simulated welding process. The final approach was to investigate workplace conditions through an assessment of exposure and control strategies in industry. The exposure to fumes and gases during welding is highly variable and frequently in excess of the health based exposure standards. Exposure is influenced by a number of a factors including the welding process, base material, arc time, electrode, arc current, arc voltage, arc length, electrode polarity, shield gas, wire-to-metal-work distance (metal inert gas), metal transfer mode, intensity of the UV radiation (ozone), the frequency of arc ignitions (ozone), thermal buoyancy generated by the arc process, ventilation (natural and mechanical), the welding environment, the position of the welder, the welders stance, helmet type, and helmet position. Exposure occurs as a result of three processes: the formation of contaminants at or around the arc region; their transport from the arc region, as influenced by the entry and thermal expansion of shield gases, the vigorous production of contaminants, thermal air currents produced by the heat of the arc process, and ventilation; and finally the entry of contaminants into the breathing zone of the welder, as influenced by the position of the welder, the welders stance, helmet type, and the helmet position. The control of exposure during welding can be achieved by several means: through the selection of welding parameters that generate low contaminant formation rates; through the limitation of arc time; and by isolating the breathing zone of the welder from the contaminant plume through the use of ventilation, welder position or the welding helmet as a physical barrier. Effective control is achieved by careful examination of the workplace, the selection of the most appropriate control option, and motivation of the workforce.

Multiverse

This performance showing demonstrated the integration of 3D stereographic scenography and game engine technology within a dance work by major Australian choreographer (Garry Stewart) and company (Australian Dance Theatre). The audience included major Australian arts festival and venue presenters. The work is an outcome of ARC Discovery DP120101695 Building innovative capacity in Australian dance through new visualization technologies, Vincs sole CI, and the collaboration with Garry Stewart, one of Australia's most successful and well known contemporary dance choreographers, and Australian Dance Theatre, one of Australia's major contemporary dance companies, demonstrates the industry impact and engagement of the research.

Influence of chromium content on the dry machining performance of cathodic arc evaporated TiA1N coatings

Physical vapour deposition (PVD) titanium aluminium nitride coated cutting tools are used extensively in global manufacturing for reducing production costs and improving productivity in a number of aggressive metal-cutting operations, namely, dry and high-speed machining. In this investigation, the performance of Ti1−xAlxN and Ti1−x−yAlxCryN coatings was assessed on Co-HSS twist drills used to machine grey cast iron. The failure criterion for drills was defined as a critical sized flank wear land at the outer corners of the drills. Using this criterion, the average tool life of uncoated twist drills was increased by factors of 2.5, 3.0 and 3.0 by Ti0.59Al0.41N, Ti0.27Al0.19Cr0.54N and Ti0.21Al0.14Cr0.65N coatings, respectively. Notwithstanding the similar increase in average tool life, the Ti1−x−yAlxCryN coatings produced more consistent results than the Ti1−xAlxN coated drills with standard deviations of 67, 3 and 19 holes, respectively. This result has significant practical implications in manufacturing, since drills are not replaced on an individual basis, but rather on a preset tool change frequency. The present paper discusses the performance of Ti1−xAlxN and Ti1−x−yAlxCryN coated drills in terms of average and practical drill life and concludes with remarks on the characterisation of PVD coatings and their significance on the performance of Co-HSS twist drills when dry machining grey cast iron.

Reducing the macroparticle content of cathodic arc evaporated TiN coatings

Cathodic arc evaporation (CAE) is a widely used technique for generating highly ionised plasma from which hard, wear-resistant PVD coatings can be deposited. A major drawback of this technique is the emission of micrometer-sized droplets of cathode material from the arc spot, which are commonly referred to as ‘macroparticles’. In this study, the effect of cathode poisoning was investigated as a method to reduce the number of macroparticles in PVD coatings. While the study focuses on the reduction of macroparticles in titanium nitride coatings, the outcomes and key findings can be broadly applied to the cathodic arc process, in particular, for the reduction of macroparticles in more advanced CAE coatings. The results support earlier findings that have shown that poisoning of the cathode can reduce the number of macroparticles emitted from the arc spot. The results of glow discharge optical emission spectroscopy (GD-OES) showed that the titanium content of the coatings varied little between the respective coatings despite changes in the deposition pressure from 0.1 to 1.2 Pa. The GD-OES results also showed the presence of oxide contamination at the surface of the coatings, which was significantly reduced with increasing deposition pressure. The coatings were also deposited onto high-speed steel twist drills to compare the metal-cutting performance when dry drilling a workpiece of cast iron. The results of the drill tests showed that tool life increased with a reduction in the number of macroparticles.

Characterisation of Ni–Ti thin films produced by filtered arc deposition

Ti–49.5 at%Ni thin films have been formed by deposition onto Si and glass substrates using a filtered arc deposition system (FADS). The films deposited on glass were composed of nanocrystalline parent phase grains contained within an amorphous matrix. The films deposited onto silicon were crystalline, and were largely parent phase whereas a bulk alloy of the same composition would be expected to be martensite. The stabilisation of the parent phase is proposed to be a grain size effect, with the critical grain size for parent phase stabilisation being about 30 nm.