Resonant Acoustic Determination of Complex Elastic Moduli

A simple, inexpensive, yet accurate method for measuring the dynamic complex modulus of elasticity is described. Using a 'free-free' bar selectively excited in three independent vibrational modes, the shear modulus is obtained by measuring the frequency of the torsional resonant mode and the Young's modulus is determined from measurement of either the longitudinal or flexural mode. The damping properties are obtained by measuring the quality factor (Q) for each mode. The Q is inversely proportional to the loss tangent. The viscoelastic behavior of the sample can be obtained by tracking a particular resonant mode (and thus a particular modulus) using a phase locked loop (PLL) and by changing the temperature of the sample. The change in the damping properties is obtained by measuring the in-phase amplitude of the PLL which is proportional to the Q of the material. The real and imaginary parts or the complex modulus can be obtained continuously as a function of parameters such as temperature, pressure, or humidity. For homogeneous and isotropic samples only two independent moduli are needed in order to characterize the complete set of elastic constants, thus, values can be obtained for the dynamic Poisson's ratio, bulk modulus, Lame constants, etc

Disorientation and emergent subjectivity: The political potentiality of embodied encounter

Located in philosophical enquiry, this article considers ways to theorize and articulate the political significance of embodied encounter with the environment. Underlying this discussion is an interrogation of the relationship between presence, embodiment and intersubjectivity, with specific reference to Fisher-Lichte’s proposition of ‘the radical concept of presence’. In doing so, an affinity is proposed between Deleuzian inflected corporeal feminism principally through the work of Rosi Braidotti and Elizabeth Grosz, and somatic-informed movement practice in the environment. It is suggested that both offer a critique of the ‘mind/body’ dualism implicit within humanist understandings of subjectivity. Accordingly, each can be argued to recast subjectivity as an always embodied activity, an inter-corporeal exchange between ‘self’, recast as shifting and multiple, and ‘otherness’. In arguing this point, the article proposes an alternative model of the audience – performer relationship theorized around notions of witness and transformation. Noting the political dimensions of this for issues of difference in performance, the article seeks to elucidate the extent to which existing approaches to performance studies, or that which Melrose terms ‘expert writerly registers’, themselves rooted in a disembodied spectatorship, arguably lack the apparatus to accommodate such understandings

flockOmania 1 exhibition, performance event & catalogue

The shaping of an exhibition programme for a gallery in a university can take on some quite different and interesting perspectives from those that might drive the selection of shows in other sorts of venues. The opportunity we identified in our first discussions about Zoe Robertson using the Lanchester Gallery was to use the exhibition both as a lever, or fulcrum, around which to explore ‘objectiveness’ of her works, and as an event in which performativity could be manifest

A gift of writing? Choreographer and writer collaborations in the university

This paper investigates certain philosophical implications of asking a dance artist for an account of how she or he works. The research proposes the development of practices of collaborative writing by a dance artist and researcher‐observer (alert to the motivated and implicated positions of each) that are capable of articulating what matters to dance practitioners. Noting that many issues specific to the production and reception of practitioner‐focused writing have a bearing on dance education and on institutional practice‐as‐research frameworks, it is argued that dance academics should be more concerned with the questions an artist might ask before writing

Fire and Life Safety Evaluation & Analysis- Bonderson Engineering Projects Center

A Fire and Life Safety Analysis of the Bonderson Engineering Projects Center, (BEPC) Building 197 on the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly) Campus is performed. Both prescriptive and performance based methods and metrics are utilized to evaluate the facility with respect to current fire and building standards and codes. Prescriptive fire protection features and systems analyzed include: building construction type and design, structural fire protection features and requirements, occupancy classification and egress analysis, fire detection, alarm, and communication systems, and fire suppression systems The prescriptive based design requirements largely met the code and installation requirements with the following deficiencies discovered during the analysis: Sprinkler system branch-lines are missing end of line restraints, sprinkler system upright sprinklers are installed too far down from deck in several areas, sprinkler system upright sprinklers are obstructed by mechanical process piping in first floor hallway, fire alarm system horns in Machine Shop and Wood Shop do not produce 15 dBA above ambient conditions (may have AHJ exemption), the single-leaf door for Conference Room 104 does not swing in the direction of egress travel. A performance-based analysis of (BEPC) is performed. The analysis involves the evaluation of three design fire scenarios pursuant to NFPA 101 Chapter 5; these scenarios are modeled using the computer programs Pyrosim, FDS, and Pathfinder. The tenability results of the computer fire models are compared to established tenability thresholds to determine the available safe egress time (ASET) for each scenario. This time is compared to the required safe egress time (RSET) defined by the Pathfinder software egress model of the building with its full occupant load. The three scenarios considered include: a fire in the entry lobby / atrium by way of a spill of acetonitrile, a fire in an HDPE trash container in the machine shop ignited by hot work, and finally, ignition of two pallets of miscellaneous computer items being stored in the high bay Projects Integration area. Of the three performance-based scenarios tested, only one scenario, the machine shop trash container fire, passed the final RSET vs ASET test with an acceptable factor of safety. BEPC largely meets or exceeds all of the prescriptive requirements for NFPA 101 and the California Building code for egress and structural systems. It also meets requirements and installation codes for fire sprinklers and alarms with the exception of the deficiencies previously determined. It is recommended that the fire sprinkler deficiencies for end of line restraints, obstructions to spray pattern development and the deflector distances be rectified via retroactive repairs to the systems involved. For fire alarms it is recommended that the AHJ exemption for audible notification in the shops be verified. From a performance based standpoint, the two scenarios that failed the RSET vs ASET could be avoided through the strict application and continued enforcement of a fire safety management plan. Such a plan could reduce both the probability and impact of fires in (BEPC). A proposed plan is included in Appendix A

Fiber-optic push-pull sensor systems

Fiber-optic push-pull sensors are those which exploit the intrinsically differential nature of an interferometer with concommitant benefits in common-mode rejection of undesired effects. Several fiber-optic accelerometer and hydrophone designs are described. Additionally, the recent development at the Naval Postgraduate School of a passive low-cost interferometric signal demodulator permits the development of economical fiber-optic sensor systems

The Future of Media, Social Media, and Sports Media

I hope that the findings of this project help guide and propel student media on how to create content tailored for social media. In my experience at times, it can seem like student media tends to throw everything at the wall and will just see what sticks. While that is sort of the nature of the business that doesn’t mean smarter methods can’t be taken. Also, it specifically gives guidelines to sports coverage, again, in my experience, it seems to me colligate sports coverage seems to be very stuck in their ways, which is not necessarily bad but at the same time social media can be an effective tool to connect with their audiences if put to use correctly

Knowledge, politics and power in global health Comment on “Knowledge, moral claims and the exercise of power in global health”

This article agrees with recent arguments suggesting that normative and epistemic power is rife within global health policy and provides further examples of such. However, in doing so, it is argued that it is equally important to recognize that global health is, and always will be, deeply political and that some form of power is not only necessary for the system to advance, but also to try and control the ways in which power within that system operates. In this regard, a better focus on health politics can both expose illegitimate sources of power, but also provide better recommendations to facilitate deliberations that can, although imperfectly, help legitimate sources of influence and power