Composition Portfolio: compositional explorations of music-parametric interactions

SYMPHONY (2008)ORCHESTER / ORCHESTRA: Piccoloflöte / piccolo Flöte / flute 2 Oboen / 2 oboes Klarinette in Es / E flat clarinet Klarinette in B / B flat clarinet 2 Fagotte / 2 bassoons 2 Hörner / 2 French horns 2 Trompeten / 2 trumpets Schlagwerk / percussion (1 -2 players) Streicher / StringsIn my Symphony I explore the complex interaction of several compositional strategies. Whereas the organisation of the pitches is inspired by the colourful sonic world of spectral music, dynamics and form are based on a strictly structured framework. In a central moment of the first movement a quotation from "Der Abschied" from the Song of the Earth" by Gustav Mahler is heard, surrounded by colourful textures - a tribute to Mahler who died in 1911, exactly 100 years ago. The second movement is slow and is based upon a gesture from "Der Abschied". This gesture is slowed down and gradually opens the view into an enchanting soundscape. There is no obvious metrum that can be felt; it seems to be an endless moment. To contrast this, the third movement employs strong rhythmic textures such as a bongo solo accompanied by the orchestra. From time to time, the rhythmic material stops, allowing space for reminiscences of the floating second movement to return.Piano Concerto (2010) for piano and string orchestraString Quartet No.1 (2008)Rencontre (2009) for Great Bass Recorder and Bass Flute für Großbassblockflöte und Bassflötestrahlen (2008/09) for Clarinet in Bb, Violin, Viola and VioloncelloHazy Lustre (2010) for Flute, Guitar and Piano für Flöte, Gitarre und KlavierDas Wohltemperierte Klavier (20I0) for Flute/Piccolo, Clarinet in Bb/Eb, Percussion, Piano, 2 Violins, Viola, Violoncello and Double BassGleaming Blur (20I0) for Piccolo/Flute, Clarinet in Eb, Piano, Violin and VioloncelloAll' brucknerese (2008) for guitarSquirrels (2009) for SaxophoneFlickering (2009) for ViolinFlickering Version for Viola (2009/10)Glistening Flurry (ZOt00 for AccordionMozart -Adagio (2010) for 5 Violins, 2 Violas and 2 VioloncellosDissolving Scenery (20I0) for 5 percussionistsSerpent de Mer (2008/09) for harpGlimmering (2009) Miniature for Piccolo, Clarinet in Eb, Violin, Violoncello, Piano and PercussionGlimmering 2 (2009) Miniature for Oboe, Viola, Harp, Piano and Percussio

Comparative Ecological Based Life Cycle Assessment of Multi- Crystalline PV Technology and Coal Electric Power

Multicrystalline (multi-Si) photovoltaic (PV) technology is increasingly common throughout Australia and the developed world, as renewable energy technologies become viable electrical generation alternatives to coal and nuclear power. We have examined the cradle-to-grave life cycle of a 3kWp multi-Si PV system within Australia. The highest contribution of environmental impacts results from the usage of fossil fuel energy resources and their emissions at the pre-production and manufacturing stages. We analyze the impacts of multi-Si technology on ecosystem goods and services (EGS) and compared it with impacts resulting from coal power electricity. For 3kWp multi-Si system, coal, crude oil and iron ore were the critical resources consumed from the lithosphere while the public supply of water was consumed from the hydrosphere. For coal power electricity, coal and water were the resources most consumed from both the lithosphere and hydrosphere. However the resource consumption from coal power electricity is significantly larger than that of multi-Si PV. Coal power electricity is also responsible for much greater energy and exergy consumption compared to multi-Si PV. The main ecosystem disturbances resulting from the lifecycle of a 3kWp multi-Si unit affect supporting and regulating services though these disturbances are considerably lower than the services impacted from coal power electricity. The study concludes that similar analysis performed on another PV technology would provide a greater understanding to the Eco-LCA results for multi-Si PV technology, particularly with relation to exergy analysis

Flow-Enhanced Photothermal Spectroscopy

Photothermal spectroscopy (PTS) is a promising sensing technique for the measurement of gases and aerosols. PTS systems using a Fabry–Pérot interferometer (FPI) are considered particularly promising owing to their robustness and potential for miniaturization. However, limited information is available on viable procedures for signal improvement through parameter tuning. In our work, we use an FPI-based PTS configuration, in which the excitation laser irradiates the target collinearly to the flowing gas. We demonstrate that the generated thermal wave, and thus the signal intensity, is significantly affected by the ratio between excitation modulation frequency and gas flow velocity towards another. We provide an analytical model that predicts the signal intensity with particular considerations of these two parameter settings and validate the findings experimentally. The results reveal the existence of an optimal working regime, depending on the modulation frequency and flow velocity

Influence of the powder metallurgy route on the mechanical properties of Cu–Cr–diamond composites

Metal-bonded grinding tools are commonly based on copper as bond material and possess low porosity. The powder metallurgic fabrication and the applied process parameters have a high influence on the mechanical properties of these grinding layers. In this study, Cu–diamond composites are fabricated through Field Assisted Sintering Technology with a variation of holding time, temperature, pressure, and chromium powder particle size. The addition of chromium to these composites can ensure a higher adhesion of the diamonds through carbide formation within the interface of the diamonds and the copper bonding matrix. The coating of diamond with chromium-carbide is mainly controlled by the chromium powder particle size, which leads to a higher critical bond strength with decreasing particle size. Maximum critical bond strength of 463 N/mm2 is reached using chromium with an average particle size of 10 µm. Increasing holding time decreases porosity and increases the critical bond strength of the composites. An increase of sintering temperature from 900 to 1040 °C leads to a decrease of porosity due to local melting of the copper. The interlocking of diamonds due to their high concentration of 50 vol% within the composites results in a relatively high porosity above 7%

Universal constructions in algebraic and locally covariant quantum field theory

The present work is concerned with the application of categorical methods in algebraic and locally covariant quantum field theory. Attention is particularly paid to colimits and left Kan extensions, understanding K. Fredenhagen’s universal algebra, which is a global (unital) (C)*-algebra associated with a not necessarily up-directed net of local (unital) (C)*-algebras, from the point of view of category theory. The main technical result centres on explicit expressions for the universal algebra and its non-triviality in the case that a net of local unital *-algebras is constructed from linear symplectic spaces via a functorial quantisation prescription. Non-up-directed nets of local (unital) (C)*-algebras typically arise for quantum field theories in a generic curved spacetime with an arbitrary topology. As an example the field strength tensor description of the classical and the quantised free Maxwell field in curved spacetimes is considered. Employing colimits and left Kan extensions, a universal classical and quantum field theory are constructed. Both fail local covariance and dynamical locality but can be reduced to locally covariant and dynamically local theories. To understand C.J. Isham’s twisted quantum fields from the point of view of algebraic and locally covariant quantum field theory, an abstract categorical framework is introduced, which utilises recent ideas of C.J. Fewster on the automorphisms of a locally covariant theory and the group of the global gauge transformations of a theory. The general formalism allows to consider twisted variants of generic locally covariant theories, which need not refer to (quantum) fields at all, on single curved spacetimes. It is argued that the general categorical scheme leads naturally to the classification of the twisted variants of a locally covariant theory by the isomorphism classes of flat smooth principal bundles over the fixed single curved spacetime the twisted variants are considered on. The general categorical scheme and the classification of twisted variants are illustrated by the example of twisted variants of multiple free and minimally coupled real scalar fields of the same mass. Finally, a new family of pure and quasifree states for the quantised free massive Dirac field on 4-dimensional, oriented and globally hyperbolic ultrastatic slabs with compact spatial section is constructed, arising from a recent description of F. Finster’s fermionic projector. These FP-states (“FP” for fermionic projector) are tested for the Hadamard property with some negative and some positive results