Whose desires are they? The politics of subversion in works by E. M. Forster, Nathalie Sarraute, and Jean Rhys.

This dissertation examines the ways in which we read representations of the feminine subject in works that have been deemed complicit in strengthening hierarchies of gender and/or race. Building upon feminist critics' theories of the feminine subject and the New Woman, I investigate debates surrounding A Passage to India, Tropismes, and Wide Sargasso Sea while analyzing such works' complex representations of "woman" (and what "woman" should be). In the first chapter, I examine critics' perceptions of E. M. Forster's politics and question the validity of reading Adela Quested as mere scapegoat. I emphasize the important role Adela Quested plays in both disrupting and maintaining colonial power in Forster's imaginary Chandrapore. The second chapter examines how Sarraute's rejection of traditional characterization coupled with her claim to be an "androgynous" writer have made reading Tropismes problematic for many feminist scholars. Through close readings of passages in Tropismes which specifically challenge received ideas of "woman, " I argue that Sarraute effectively works to defamiliarize myths about what women "want" and that she also explores how living up to such myths is made desirable. I begin the last chapter by questioning critics' conflation of Jean Rhys with Antoinette and the resultant conclusion that Rhys's work is at best apolitical and at worst thoroughly racist. I contend that this conclusion is reductive and does not take into account Rhys's complex, if conflicted, understanding of her own identity. An examination of these works' critical reception histories and of their complex representations of the feminine subject reinforces what is at stake for feminist inquiry should we accept the "authority of experience" as the origins of inquiry. I ultimately argue that these authors resist facile equations of their works with their personal experiences and distance themselves from their protagonists in order to productively challenge stereotypical notions of what "woman" should be

Parametric studies to determine the effect of compliant layers on metal matrix composite systems

Computational simulation studies are conducted to identify compliant layers to reduce matrix stresses which result from the coefficient of thermal expansion mismatch and the large temperature range over which the current metal matrix composites will be used. The present study includes variations of compliant layers and their properties to determine their influence on unidirectional composite and constituent response. Two simulation methods are used for these studies. The first approach is based on a three-dimensional linear finite element analysis of a 9 fiber unidirectional composite system. The second approach is a micromechanics based nonlinear computer code developed to determine the behavior of metal matrix composite system for thermal and mechanical loads. The results show that an effective compliant layer for the SCS 6 (SiC)/Ti-24Al-11Nb (Ti3Al + Nb) and SCS 6 (SiC)/Ti-15V-3Cr-3Sn-3Al (Ti-15-3) composite systems should have modulus 15 percent that of the matrix and a coefficient of thermal expansion of the compliant layer roughly equal to that of the composite system without the CL. The matrix stress in the longitudinal and the transverse tangent (loop) direction are tensile for the Ti3Al + Nb and Ti-15-3 composite systems upon cool down from fabrication. The fiber longitudinal stress is compressive from fabrication cool down. Addition of a recommended compliant layer will result in a reduction in the composite modulus

Nurses Alumni Association Bulletin, Fall 2001

2001 - 2002 Meeting Date Calendar 2002 Annual Luncheon & Meeting Notice Bulletin Publication Committee, Officers and Committee Chairs The President\u27s Message Treasurer\u27s Financial Report Auditor\u27s Financial Report Alumni Scholarship Fund Resume of Minutes Alumni Office News Committee Reports Nurses Relief Trust Fund Clara Melville - Adele Lewis Scholarship Fund Nominating Social -Annual May Luncheon Social - Fall Luncheon of 2000 Central PA Satellite Committee Report Bulletin Development Annual Giving Contributors News About Our Graduates Janet C. Hindson Award Janet C. Hindson Award - Qualifications Army Nurse Corps Nursing 101 A Loving Aunt\u27s Thoughts Volunteers In Medicine Happy Birthday - To Be 80 Or More Luncheon Photos Collage Fiftieth Anniversary - Class of 1951 In Memoriam, Names of Deceased Graduates Class News Application for Nurses Scholarship Fund Application for Certification Application for Relief Fund Benefits Miscellaneous: Pins, Transcripts, Class Address List, Change of Address Forms Campus Map List of Hotels Note

METCAN verification status

The status of the verification (comparisons of predictions with experimental data) of the METCAN (METal-matrix Composite ANalyzer) code at high temperature is summarized. Verification includes select available room temperature of W/Cu composites for different fiber volume ratios. It also includes high temperature properties for thermal expansion, moduli, strength and stress/strain behavior for SiC/Ti composites. Furthermore it includes limited cases for thermal fatigue strength degradation. The verification results summarized herein indicate that METCAN simulates complex high temperature metal matrix composite bahavior with reasonable accuracy and that it can be used with confidence to identify in-situ nonlinear behavior that influences composite properties

Zero-point energy of massless scalar fields in the presence of soft and semihard boundaries in D dimensions

The renormalized energy density of a massless scalar field defined in a D-dimensional flat spacetime is computed in the presence of "soft" and "semihard" boundaries, modeled by some smoothly increasing potential functions. The sign of the renormalized energy densities for these different confining situations is investigated. The dependence of this energy on $D$ for the cases of "hard" and "soft/semihard" boundaries are compared.Comment: 36 pages, LaTeX, 4 figure

Concepts for radically increasing the numerical convergence rate of the Euler equations

Integral equation and finite difference methods have been developed for solving transonic flow problems using linearized forms of the transonic small disturbance and Euler equations. A key element is the use of a strained coordinate system in which the shock remains fixed. Additional criteria are developed to determine the free parameters in the coordinate straining; these free parameters are functions of the shock location. An integral equation analysis showed that the shock is located by ensuring that no expansion shocks exist in the solution. The expansion shock appears as oscillations in the solution near the sonic line, and the correct shock location is determined by removing these oscillations. A second objective was to study the ability of the Euler equation to model separated flow

Prediction of extreme events in the OFC model on a small world network

We investigate the predictability of extreme events in a dissipative Olami-Feder-Christensen model on a small world topology. Due to the mechanism of self-organized criticality, it is impossible to predict the magnitude of the next event knowing previous ones, if the system has an infinite size. However, by exploiting the finite size effects, we show that probabilistic predictions of the occurrence of extreme events in the next time step are possible in a finite system. In particular, the finiteness of the system unavoidably leads to repulsive temporal correlations of extreme events. The predictability of those is higher for larger magnitudes and for larger complex network sizes. Finally, we show that our prediction analysis is also robust by remarkably reducing the accessible number of events used to construct the optimal predictor.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Analysis of Self-Organized Criticality in the Olami-Feder-Christensen model and in real earthquakes

We perform a new analysis on the dissipative Olami-Feder-Christensen model on a small world topology considering avalanche size differences. We show that when criticality appears the Probability Density Functions (PDFs) for the avalanche size differences at different times have fat tails with a q-Gaussian shape. This behaviour does not depend on the time interval adopted and is found also when considering energy differences between real earthquakes. Such a result can be analytically understood if the sizes (released energies) of the avalanches (earthquakes) have no correlations. Our findings support the hypothesis that a self-organized criticality mechanism with long-range interactions is at the origin of seismic events and indicate that it is not possible to predict the magnitude of the next earthquake knowing those of the previous ones.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures. New version accepted for publication on PRE Rapid Communication

Coherent open-loop optimal control of light-harvesting dynamics

We apply theoretically open-loop quantum optimal control techniques to provide methods for the verification of various quantum coherent transport mechanisms in natural and artificial light-harvesting complexes under realistic experimental constraints. We demonstrate that optimally shaped laser pulses allow to faithfully prepare the photosystem in specified initial states (such as localized excitation or coherent superposition, i.e. propagating and non-propagating states) and to probe efficiently the dynamics. These results provide a path towards the discrimination of the different transport pathways and to the characterization of environmental properties, enhancing our understanding of the role that coherent processes may play in biological complexes.Comment: 12 pages, 15 figure