Academic Life and Motherhood: A Skillful Balancing Act

When I began my doctoral studies in the fall of 2002, I found myself engaged in a difficult balancing act. If two children under the age of six, a husband, a part-time job, and aging parents were not enough to manage, adding serious graduate work to this already heavy load seemed impossible to handle. Initially, I was unsteady – losing my footing and balance on the thin beam upon which I walked each day. Around the same time, I also came across an aphorism that encouraged slow but steady work towards the realization of a goal. It read something like this: Plant one flower a year and in ten years you shall have a beautiful garden. I decided to make this one of my mantras. And so, I began to work slowly but consistently towards my doctorate, taking two or three courses per academic year (or planting a couple of flowers at a time). Over the years, my decision to limit my course load has kept me from falling off the balance beam of life and has thus enabled me to juggle my family and academic demands with a good degree of dexterity. In retrospect, any other route to my doctorate may have yielded either sloppy work or neglect in many aspects of my life

Cultural Difference or Male Dominance?: (Re)adjusting the Lens on the Maternal Image in Language Socialization Practices

It is not uncommon for doctoral students to experience some sort of intellectual turning point in the course of our studies. At this juncture a light bulb may go off, allowing us to experience an “Aha” moment (Tannen, 1984) with regard to a particular issue. This leads us to re-examine some of our most deeply ingrained beliefs about a particular research area. We stroll down new paths, explore new territories, and find new spaces to ponder our questions. One such exploration began for me in the spring of 2005, while I was enrolled in Interactional Sociolinguistics with Dr. Leslie M. Beebe. This course not only exposed me to a discourse analytic approach that would be foundational to my future dissertation work, but it also provided me with a new and expanded perspective on discourse and gender. Course readings led me to ask new questions and to examine existing debates in language and gender research through various lenses. The course was indeed an intellectual turning point in my life that began when I examined the debate surrounding cross-gender (mis)communication, and then came full circle when I discovered an interest in family discourse and the maternal figure—an outgrowth of a Linguistic Anthropology course also taught by Dr. Beebe the following term. Dr. Beebe encouraged me to examine cross-gender (mis)communication with two distinct lenses: cultural difference and male dominance. As my research interests grew to include family discourse, I discovered how the dichotomization of cultural difference and male dominance also presents two distinct lenses for viewing the maternal image in language accommodation practices. While one of these lenses is constructed around traditional patriarchal assumptions, the other views mothers’ accommodation practices from a cultural and socio-educational angle. I will now peer into these lenses to show how the socio-political lens of dominance and patriarchy extends beyond issues of cross-gender (mis)communication to societal perceptions of mothers and their role in language accommodation practices

Experimental characterization of a Si-Mo-Cr ductile cast iron

High temperature-resistant ductile cast irons behaviour is highly interesting for the manufacture of components, such as exhaust manifolds for automotive applications. In the present paper the temperature-dependent static, high cycle and low cycle fatigue behaviour of a heat-resistant Si-Mo-Cr ductile cast iron (Fe-2.4C-4.6Si-0.7Mo-1.2Cr) is investigated. Tensile and high cycle fatigue properties, in terms of elastic modulus, yield stress, elongation at break, fatigue limits, and the stress-life Basquin’s curve parameters have been determined at room temperature, 160 °C, 500 °C and 800 °C, thus covering the usual temperature range to which actual components, obtained with this kind of material, are subjected. The alloy showed good monotonic properties at low temperature, but showed to be fragile during fatigue tests, due to the high Silicon content in the alloy. At 500 °C mechanical properties are still good, with a 40% decrease with respect to 160 °C, and ductility is increased. The last temperature level of 800 °C has caused a noticeable drop of the cast iron strength, due to softening and oxidation effects

Proposal of a stress-based isothermal LCF life model for Aluminium alloy cylinder heads

The paper presents and discusses the calibration procedure and the results related to a new easy-to-use low cycle fatigue (LCF) life prediction empirical stress-based model. The model was applied to a commercial Aluminium alloy diesel engine cylinder head. The material characterization was carried out on commercial cylinder heads made by primary AlSi9Cu1, investigating the mechanical properties on sets of specimens obtained from layers positioned at different distances from the gas face of the cylinder heads. The results of mechanical characterization and LCF model calibration parameters are presented for each layer. The material characterization was carried out at room temperature to assess the procedure and validate the model. The life assessment performance of the model was compared with the corresponding Basquin-Manson-Coffin model. The model prediction fitted the experimental data trend with a determination coefficient ranging from 0.75 to 0.98, which is globally higher with respect to the parameter fitting obtained with the Basquin-Manson-Coffin calibration. Furthermore, all life forecasts are close to the experimental results with a variance lower than 55%. A future development of the research work with further material characterization at different temperature will allow to validate and discuss the temperature dependence of the model parameters and to investigate its thermo-Mechanical Fatigue (TMF) life assessment performance

Deep Cryogenic treatment: a bibliographic review

The use of cryogenic treatment (CT) to improve mechanical properties of materials has been developed from the end of the Sixties. At the present time, the initial mistrust about CT has been cleared up and many papers about different materials reporting laboratory tests results, microstructural investigations and hypothesis on CT strengthening mechanisms have been published. The removal of retained austenite combined with fine dispersed η-carbides precipitation have been widely observed and their effects on mechanical properties have been measured. In addition, some recent studies have pointed out a different mechanism for fatigue strengthening of stainless steels, which involves nano-martensite formation during the CT. The present paper summarizes the state of art about CT, focusing on methods, parameters, results and assumed microstructural mechanisms, in order to get a starting point for new researches to com

Family as Context

Within the last decade, discourse analysts have delved into the private sphere to examine the institution of the family. Analysts have noted how the family is a fertile research site and how investigation of family interaction gives, among other things, crucial insight into the intricate relational struggles between parents and their children (e.g., Dedaic, 2001; Sarangi, 2006; Tannen, Kendall, & Gordon, 2007). Considered a micro institution, the family provides the dayto-day context in which relations of power and connection are enacted, and human bonds are either severed or forged. In this respect, it is a key social institution, one “that mediates the individual and the social, with identifiable structures, functions, and hierarchies” (Sarangi, 2006, p. 403). Within this context, individuals also share a history, having been engaged with one another for a relatively long period of time. As a result of this long and extended contact, interaction among family members runs a gamut of emotions and behaviors. There are moments of tension and tenderness, assertions of autonomy and acts of resistance, and attempts by children to individuate from parents while still retaining some interpersonal attachment to the family as a whole. A discursive analysis of family interaction can provide insight into how family members negotiate these behaviors and attempt to maintain some familial harmony. Despite a concerted effort to “keep the peace,” any seemingly innocuous remark, request, or rumination by one family member (typically a parent) may evoke a past event or action that another family member (often a child) wishes to keep in the hinterland of his/her mind. The (re)linking of this prior interaction to the present context—known as intertextuality (c.f. Gordon, 2009)—also offers an opportunity to relive any feelings or tensions that may have accompanied it the first time. Hence, a family’s prior interaction clearly (re)shapes and (re)contextualizes their present interaction

CFD analysis of internal ventilation in high-speed Human Powered Vehicles

When dealing with fully faired Human Powered Vehicles (HPVs) for speed or endurance record attempts, the need for internal ventilation of the rider arises. Different solutions have been proposed in the literature and in practice by designers and builders of these bicycles. The present paper proposes an analytical approach to design the frontal air inlet according to the VO 2 max of the rider in speed competitions. A 3D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model is presented to analyze the external and internal flow interaction with respect to three design parameters: the presence of wheel-covers, the location of the rear vent and its geometry. The CFD results predict the wheel-covers save 23 W of aerodynamic power at 125 km/h. A secondary but significant design parameter is the rear vent position, that can provide a further reduction of 11 W at 125 km/h if properly located. Finally, the effect of the rear vent geometry was below the model confidence level, resulting in a likely negligible design parameter

Finite Element Thermo-Structural Methodology for Investigating Diesel Engine Pistons with Thermal Barrier Coating

Traditionally, in combustion engine applications, metallic materials have been widely employed due to their properties: castability and machinability with accurate dimensional tolerances, good mechanical strength even at high temperatures, wear resistance, and affordable price. However, the high thermal conductivity of metallic materials is responsible for consistent losses of thermal energy and has a strong influence on pollutant emission. A possible approach for reducing the thermal exchange requires the use of thermal barrier coating (TBC) made by materials with low thermal conductivity and good thermo-mechanical strength. In this work, the effects of a ceramic coating for thermal insulation of the piston crown of a car diesel engine are investigated through a numerical methodology based on finite element analysis. The study is developed by considering firstly a thermal analysis and then a thermo-structural analysis of the component. The loads acting on the piston are considered both separately and combined to achieve a better understanding of their mutual interaction and of the coating effect on the stress state. The thermal analysis pointed out a decrease of temperature up to 40°C in the upper part of the piston for the coated model. Despite the lower deformations induced by the reduced thermal load, the stiffening effect provided by the TBC results in higher peak stress. However, the lower temperature field inside the piston compensates by allowing higher yielding stresses for the component and reducing the impact on the safety factor. The methodology is validated by comparison of the model results with numerical data available from the literature; limitations and potential future improvements are also discussed