The fantastic in the family sagas : implications for saga authorship

There is increasing acceptance that characterisation in the family sagas is complex enough to include the subtle incorporation of protagonists’ inner lives. Thus, despite saga authors’ apparent desire to pass on traditional stories, saga characterization brings with it the possibility of a connection between the medieval author and the early Icelandic community represented in the sagas, a break in the saga code of objective narration that adds further weight to recent arguments that saga authorship was conceived in broader terms than merely the preservation of oral tales. One such break in objectivity occurs in the range of responses to the fantastic, when characters are forced to interpret the supernatural or strange events in their lives. At such times, the author allows glimpses of the inner lives of characters, focussing our attention on the way in which characters perceived and dealt with extraordinary occurrences, but also highlighting and thematising the distinctive social context of the early Icelandic community.

From Catch Up to Innovation: A History of occupational Health and Safety Regulation in Queensland

From Queensland’s inception as a self-governing colony in December 1859 the issue of labour relations has preoccupied governments and shaped the experiences of its working men and women. However, despite the often turbulent nature of labour relations in Queensland there has, prior to this book, been no attempt to provide an overview of the system as a whole. This important addition to Queensland’s sesquicentenary celebrations redresses this failure, looking at the diverse range of experiences that, together, made up a unique system of labour relations – including those of employers, women workers, indigenous workers, unions, the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission, labour law, industrial disputation, the workings of health and safety system and life in regional areas. It is argued that, overall, Queensland’s system of industrial regulation was central to its economic and social development. Despite past emphasis on the large-scale strikes that periodically raked the state this book finds that consensus normally prevailed.

MIMO and SISO identification of radiation force terms for models of marine structures in waves

This paper presents a discussion on the use of MIMO and SISO techniques for identification of the radiation force terms in models for surface vessels. We compare and discuss two techniques recently proposed in literature for this application: time domain identification and frequency domain identification. We compare the methods in terms of estimates model order, accuracy of the fit, use of the available information, and ease of use and implementation.

Natural ventilation heuristics in high-rise residential buildings : evaluation and prediction

Complex behaviour of air flow in the buildings makes it difficult to predict. Consequently, architects use common strategies for designing buildings with adequate natural ventilation. However, each climate needs specific strategies and there are not many heuristics for subtropical climate in literature. Furthermore, most of these common strategies are based on low-rise buildings and their performance for high-rise buildings might be different due to the increase of the wind speed with increase in the height. This study uses Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to evaluate these rules of thumb for natural ventilation for multi-residential buildings in subtropical climate. Four design proposals for multi-residential towers with natural ventilation which were produced in intensive two days charrette were evaluated using CFD. The results show that all the buildings reach acceptable level of wind speed in living areas and poor amount of air flow in sleeping areas.

Modelling collision potentials in Port Anchorages: Application of the Navigational Traffic Conflict Technique (NTCT)

Despite the extent of works done on modelling port water collisions, not much research effort has been devoted to modelling collisions at port anchorages. This paper aims to fill this important gap in literature by applying the Navigation Traffic Conflict Technique (NTCT) for measuring the collision potentials in anchorages and for examining the factors contributing to collisions. Grounding on the principles of the NTCT, a collision potential measurement model and a collision potential prediction model were developed. These models were illustrated by using vessel movement data of the anchorages in Singapore port waters. Results showed that the measured collision potentials are in close agreement with those perceived by harbour pilots. Higher collision potentials were found in anchorages attached to shoreline and international fairways, but not at those attached to confined water. Higher operating speeds, larger numbers of isolated danger marks and day conditions were associated with reduction in the collision potentials.

The roles of shared vs. Distinctive conceptual features in lexical access

Contemporary models of spoken word production assume conceptual feature sharing determines the speed with which objects are named in categorically-related contexts. However, statistical models of concept representation have also identified a role for feature distinctiveness, i.e., features that identify a single concept and serve to distinguish it quickly from other similar concepts. In three experiments we investigated whether distinctive features might explain reports of counter-intuitive semantic facilitation effects in the picture word interference (PWI) paradigm. In Experiment 1, categorically-related distractors matched in terms of semantic similarity ratings (e.g., zebra and pony) and manipulated with respect to feature distinctiveness (e.g., a zebra has stripes unlike other equine species) elicited interference effects of comparable magnitude. Experiments 2 and 3 investigated the role of feature distinctiveness with respect to reports of facilitated naming with part-whole distractor-target relations (e.g., a hump is a distinguishing part of a CAMEL, whereas knee is not, vs. an unrelated part such as plug). Related part distractors did not influence target picture naming latencies significantly when the part denoted by the related distractor was not visible in the target picture (whether distinctive or not; Experiment 2). When the part denoted by the related distractor was visible in the target picture, non-distinctive part distractors slowed target naming significantly at SOA of -150 ms (Experiment 3). Thus, our results show that semantic interference does occur for part-whole distractor-target relations in PWI, but only when distractors denote features shared with the target and other category exemplars. We discuss the implications of these results for some recently developed, novel accounts of lexical access in spoken word production.

Flexible Ag electrode for use in organic photovoltaics

High efficiency organic photovoltaic cells discussed in literature are normally restricted to devices fabricated on glass substrates. This is a consequence of the extreme brittleness and inflexibility of the commonly used transparent conductive oxide electrode, indium tin oxide (ITO). This shortcoming of ITO along with other concerns such as increasing scarcity of indium, migration of indium to organic layer, etc. makes it imperative to move away from ITO. Here we demonstrate a highly flexible Ag electrode that possesses low sheet resistances even in ultra-thin layers. It retains its conductivity under severe bending stresses where ITO fails completely. A P3HT:PCBM blend organic solar cell fabricated on this highly flexible electrode gives an efficiency of 2.3%.

Generating benefits and negotiating tensions through an international doctoral forum: A sociological analysis

Workshops and seminars are widely-used forms of doctoral training. However, research with a particular focus on these forms of doctoral training is sporadic in the literature. There is no, if any, such research concerning the international context and participants’ own voices. Mindful of these lacunae in the literature, we write the current paper as a group of participants in one of a series of doctoral forums co-organised annually by Beijing Normal University, China and Queensland University of Technology, Australia. The paper voices our own experiences of participation in the doctoral forum. Data were drawn from reflections, journals, and group discussions of all 12 student and academic participants. These qualitative data were organised and analysed through Bourdieu’s notions of capital and field. Findings indicate that the doctoral forum created enabling and challenging social fields where participants accrued and exchanged various forms of capital and negotiated transient and complex power relations. In this respect, the sociological framework used provides a distinctive theoretical tool to conceptualise and analyse the benefits and tensions of participation in the doctoral forum. Knowledge built and lessons learned through our paper will provide implications and recommendations for future planning of, and participation in, the doctoral forum series and similar activities elsewhere.

Robust principal component analysis in water quality index development

Some statistical procedures already available in literature are employed in developing the water quality index, WQI. The nature of complexity and interdependency that occur in physical and chemical processes of water could be easier explained if statistical approaches were applied to water quality indexing. The most popular statistical method used in developing WQI is the principal component analysis (PCA). In literature, the WQI development based on the classical PCA mostly used water quality data that have been transformed and normalized. Outliers may be considered in or eliminated from the analysis. However, the classical mean and sample covariance matrix used in classical PCA methodology is not reliable if the outliers exist in the data. Since the presence of outliers may affect the computation of the principal component, robust principal component analysis, RPCA should be used. Focusing in Langat River, the RPCA-WQI was introduced for the first time in this study to re-calculate the DOE-WQI. Results show that the RPCA-WQI is capable to capture similar distribution in the existing DOE-WQI.

A Global Constraint On Relative Rotation To Avoid Lumped Compliant Mechanisms In Topology Optimization

Some of the well known formulations for topology optimization of compliant mechanisms could lead to lumped compliant mechanisms. In lumped compliance, most of the elastic deformation in a mechanism occurs at few points, while rest of the mechanism remains more or less rigid. Such points are referred to as point-flexures. It has been noted in literature that high relative rotation is associated with point-flexures. In literature we also find a formulation of local constraint on relative rotations to avoid lumped compliance. However it is well known that a global constraint is easier to handle than a local constraint, by a numerical optimization algorithm. The current work presents a way of putting global constraint on relative rotations. This constraint is also simpler to implement since it uses linearized rotation at the center of finite-elements, to compute relative rotations. I show the results obtained by using this constraint oil the following benchmark problems - displacement inverter and gripper.

Wave propagation in multi-walled carbon nanotube

In this paper, wave propagation in multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) are studied by modeling them as continuum multiple shell coupled through van der Waals force of interaction. The displacements, namely, axial, radial and circumferential displacements vary along the circumferential direction. The wave propagation are simulated using the wavelet based spectral finite element (WSFE) method. This technique involves Daubechies scaling function approximation in time and spectral element approach. The WSFE Method allows the study of wave properties in both time and frequency domains. This is in contrast to the conventional Fourier transform based analysis which are restricted to frequency domain analysis. Here, first, the wavenumbers and wave speeds of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are Studied to obtain the characteristics of the waves. These group speeds have been compared with those reported in literature. Next, the natural frequencies of a single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) are studied for different values of the radius. The frequencies of the first five modes vary linearly with the radius of the SWNT. Finally, the time domain responses are simulated for SWNT and three-walled carbon nanotubes.

Phase transformations and metastable phase equilibria in Al-Ge alloy

In this paper the results of a detailed investigation on the metastable phase relations in undercooled as well as rapidly solidified Al---Ge alloys containing 2–50 at.% Ge are reported. Data obtained on the structure and morphology of phases enable us to arrive at the phase relations and transformation processes occurring in undercooled and rapidly quenched melts of this system. These results are explained with the help of a metastable phase diagram consisting of a peritectic and eutectic reaction involving metastable phases.

Reading the Texture of Reality : Chaos Theory, Literature and the Humanist Perspective

Tutkimuksessa analysoidaan kaaosteorian vaikutusta kaunokirjallisuudessa ja kirjallisuudentutkimuksessa ja esitetään, että kaaosteorian roolia kirjallisuuden kentällä voidaan parhaiten ymmärtää sen avaamien käsitteiden kautta. Suoran soveltamisen sijaan kaaosteorian avulla on käyty uudenlaisia keskusteluja vanhoista aiheista ja luonnontieteestä ammennetut käsitteet ovat johtaneet aiemmin tukkeutuneiden argumenttien avaamiseen uudesta näkökulmasta käsin. Väitöskirjassa keskitytään kolmeen osa-alueeseen: kaunokirjallisen teoksen rakenteen teoretisointiin, ihmisen (erityisesti tekijän) identiteetin hahmottamiseen ja kuvailemiseen sekä fiktion ja todellisuuden suhteen pohdintaan. Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on osoittaa, kuinka kaaosteorian kautta näitä aiheita on lähestytty niin kirjallisuustieteessä kuin kaunokirjallisissa teoksissakin. Väitöskirjan keskiössä ovat romaanikirjailija John Barthin, dramatisti Tom Stoppardin ja runoilija Jorie Grahamin teosten analyysit. Nämä kirjailijat ammentavat kaaosteoriasta keinoja käsitteellistää rakenteita, jotka ovat yhtä aikaa dynaamisia prosesseja ja hahmotettavia muotoja. Kaunokirjallisina teemoina nousevat esiin myös ihmisen paradoksaalisesti tunnistettava ja aina muuttuva identiteetti sekä lopullista haltuunottoa pakeneva, mutta silti kiehtova ja tavoiteltava todellisuus. Näiden kirjailijoiden teosten analyysin sekä teoreettisen keskustelun kautta väitöskirjassa tuodaan esiin aiemmassa tutkimuksessa varjoon jäänyt, koherenssia, ymmärrettävyyttä ja realismia painottava humanistinen näkökulma kaaosteorian merkityksestä kirjallisuudessa.

"Four Ways of Writing the City" : St. Petersburg-Leningrad as a Metaphor in the Poetry of Joseph Brodsky

The present study discusses the theme of St. Petersburg-Leningrad in Joseph Brodsky's verse works. The chosen approach to the evolving im-age of the city in Brodsky's poetry is through four metaphors: St. Petersburg as "the common place" of the Petersburg Text, St. Petersburg as "Paradise and/or Hell", St. Petersburg as "a Utopian City" and St. Petersburg as "a Void". This examination of the city-image focusses on the aspects of space and time as basic categories underlying the poet's poetic world view. The method used is close reading, with an emphasis on semantical interpretation. The material consists of eighteen poems dating from 1958 to 1994. Apart from investigating the spatio-temporal features, the study focusses on exposing and analysing the allusions in the scrutinised works to other texts from Russian and Western belles lettres. Terminology (introduced by Bakhtin and Yury Lotman, among others) concerning the poetics of space in literature is employed in the present study. Conceptions originating from the paradigm of possible worlds are also used in elucidating the position of fictional and actual chronotopes and heroes in Brodsky's poetry. Brodsky's image of his native city is imbued with intertextual linkings. Through reminiscences of the "Divine Comedy" and Russian modernists, the city is paralleled with Dante's "lost and accursed" Florence, as well as with the lost St. Petersburg of Mandel'shtam and Akhmatova. His city-image is related to the Petersburg myth in Russian literature through their common themes of death and separation as well as through the merging of actual realia with the fictional worlds of the Petersburg Text. In his later poems, when his view of the city is that of an exiled poet, the city begins to lose its actual world referents, turning into a mental realm which is no longer connected to any particular geographical location or historical time. It is placed outside time. The native city as the homeland in its entirety is replaced by another existence created in language.