Introduction: self-translating, from minorisation to empowerment

This introductory chapter discusses the implications of self-translation in multilingual contexts in Europe, aiming at mapping out innovative perspectives to the study of power and, by so doing, empowering self-translation. We start by critically engaging with the ‘cultural’ and ‘power turns’ in translation studies, as a way of delineating what the particularities of self-translation are when practised by author-translators in multilingual spaces. Focusing on the European milieu, defined broadly in terms of its geographies, we then discuss multilingualism, cultural awareness and ethnic diversity as staple terms in both academic and political ideologies across Europe, emphasising that one of the aspects of multilingualism is precisely the power differentials between languages and cultures. We explore these unequal power relations and centre–periphery dichotomies of Europe’s ‘minorised’ languages, literatures and cultures, suggesting the usage of ‘minorised’ in preference to the others discussed, inasmuch as it highlights both hegemonic power hierarchies and also the continual resistance to them. This is followed by a brief overview of the emerging debates in the subdiscipline of self-translation in recent times. It is within them that we situate our contribution, arguing that the self-translators’ double affiliation as authors and translators turns them into powerful cultural and ideological mediators and places them in a privileged position to challenge (or submit to) power. Here another term, ‘self-censorship,’ is suggested as invaluable to self-translation studies where self-editing often occurs before translation is begun. Finally, the introduction presents the organisation of the book and the main ideas discussed by the 11 authors in their individual chapters

Devitrification and hydrogen storage capacity of the eutectic Ca72Mg28\mathrm{Ca_{72}Mg_{28}} metallic glass

Very low density eutectic Ca$_{72}$Mg$_{28}$ at.% metallic glass was produced by a rapid solidification melt-spinning process. The glass is considered as being a precursor of more complex ternary Ca-Mg-Zn alloys consisting solely of biocompatible elements with the view to its potential use as bioresorbable alloy for orthopaedic applications. Density, elastic modulus, hydrogen storage capacity, thermal properties of the metallic glass, such as the glass transition, crystallization and melting temperatures, as well as heats of crystallization and melting are reported. The devitrification process of the amorphous alloy up to its melt is fully described

The Structural Characterization of Ni-Ti-Zr Metallic Glass

Metallic glasses, in contrast to its crystalline counterparts, exhibit unique mechanical and structural properties, which make them attractive for practical applications. Especially Ni-Ti-Zr metallic glass is a promising alloy for micromechanical systems because of its known shape memory properties. Shape memory effect is connected with structural phase transformation. In this paper, the ambient-temperature-structure of Ni-Ti-Zr metallic glass is investigated using transmission electron microscopy and synchrotron X-ray diffraction, the surface and chemical analysis is documented using scanning electron microscopy. Thermal stability of the alloy has been determined using differential scanning calorimetry

The Correlation between Magnetic and Structural Properties in Ni-Ti-Zr Metallic Glass

The Ni-Ti-Zr metallic glasses are due to their known shape memory properties promising alloys e.g. for micromechanical applications. In this paper structure and structure stability of one particular alloy Ni₆₀Ti₂₅Zr₁₅ at.% were examined by means of X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy while magnetic properties were ascertained by vibrating-sample magnetometer with maximal applied field of 100 kA/m in the temperature range of 300-1073 K