The Familial Grotesque in the Poetry of Shirley Geok-lin Lim

Framing the representation of the family in Shirley Lim’s poetry against the concept of the grotesque, this essay aims to demonstrate how the aesthetic category is arguably enlisted as a symbol referring to the trope – or more accurately, with particular members of the family– in order to mount a criticism against it, or less directly, the Confucian, male-biased symbolic order that underscores it. That the maternal-figure is most often transfigured as a grotesque embodiment in Lim’s poems is telling in its implication of the poet’s own ambivalent feelings towards her own mother whom she recognizes as a woman who illustrates empowering individualism but also reprehensibility. As such, while some of her poems express affirmation of the grotesque’s capacity for transgressing ideological borders and confusing distinctions, others are less celebratory of the concept, which they evoke explicitly to clarify the family’s monstrous dimensions

WAVE FORCES ON FLOATING BREAKWATER

The main objective of this study is to further the studies made from previous experiences from Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS. These studies are to evaluate the wave forces that are applied to the floating breakwater. The report summarizes the laboratory tests conducted to evaluate the wave forces that are applied to the previously designed floating breakwater. Generally the geometry design of the floating breakwater will be the same, using different material. The laboratory tests were conducted in a controlled environment where tides and currents were not taken into account. The study includes a range of variation in terms of the environment that was tested. These variations include the difference of wave periods and water depth upon the floating breakwater. The water depths are 20cm and 30 em. The tests showed that the peaked wave force occurs during the wave period of 1.35s. Also, it can be seen that the wave forces has a general relationship with the wave period, increasing as the wave period increases. A detailed study was therefore done to study the motions, the wave attenuation performance, and the energy distribution. It could be seen that at this particular wave period, the wave attenuation performance is rather low. The study of the motion shows that the floating breakwater was subjected to relatively uniform wave forces at this wave period. However, due to the vague methodology, a further detailed experimental setup should be done. The experimental study was done to compare with Goda's principle formula for breakwater design. However, it was observed that the formula was not suitable for floating breakwaters. An observation made from this study is that the wave forces induced were the highest for Model M-4, which is the inclined slope with keel plate, with the value of9.58N

Analysis of masonry arch bridges.

In January 1999, the maximum axle weight increased from IN to 11.5t for theassessmenot f highway bridges and structures. At the samet ime, the maximum vehicleweight also increased from 38t to 44t. Highway authorities are urgently searching for amore refined assessmenmt ethod to predict the behaviour of masonry arch bridges.LUSAS finite element analysis was used to study the behaviour of masonry archbridges. Load versus deflection curves and collapse loads are given for some of the fulland large scale arches previously tested to collapse. A parametric study was alsoperformed to determine the influence of the arch material properties and the loaddispersal angle: the arch tensile strength and the load dispersal angle were found tohave the most significant influence on the collapse load predictions.Repeatability tests were carried out by building three nominally identical large scalearch bridges in the laboratory and testing them to collapse. The first, second and thirdarches collapsed at 2lkNm', 16kNm', and 25kNm 1 respectively. Finite elementanalysis predicted a range of 18kNm' to 39kNm 1 for the same arches. This led to anexamination of a statistical, risk based, approach to bridge assessment.Two novel risk assessment programs were developed by integrating Monte Carlosimulation with the MEXE and the mechanism methods. Statistical information aboutthe predicted collapse load and allowable axle load is given. These risk assessmenttools are offered for incorporation within routine assessmenmt ethods. Their principalbenefit lies in providing engineers with a feel for the reliability of their analyses.A modification has been made to the mechanism method by considering archdeflection. A mechanism prediction is accurate only when all the forces and theirpositions are accurately located. The modified mechanism method was used to analysesome of the full scale arch bridges, previously tested to collapse, which revealed thatarch deflections had a significant influence on the collapse load prediction

The effects of organization characteristics towards innovation in construction industry

Construction industry needs to be dynamic in order to keep pace with the changes that the world is constantly facing.The use of innovative construction technologies particularly in the heavy construction industry is expected to enhance the contractor’s ability in producing cost-competitive, resource-efficient, and price-stable projects. Diverse abilities, capitals and organizational cultures are required to foster innovation orientation and adoption. The Malaysian construction industry is apparently one of the imperative sectors of the economy, however, the rate of adopting innovative products and processes are relatively low.The dilemma facing construction companies when introducing new construction technologies is identifying those factors that substantially influence the rate of implementation, adoption and diffusion. Many companies have the attempt to implement innovation, nevertheless different innovation orientation necessitates the use of various strategies, skills and resources and there would be many possible reasons to the failure for the innovation implementation.Furthermore, the relationship between the characteristics and innovation orientation of construction companies is relatively unexplored. Hence, this paper aims to discuss the effects of organization characteristics of the constructions companies namely the industry fragmentation, companies location and size towards the construction innovation. A study has been conducted on 703 contractors that registered as G7 contractor with Malaysian Construction Industrial Board (CIDB).The study found out that the industry fragmentation, location and size have some influence yet very small on the construction companies innovation implementation and adoption behavior.The results suggest that increasing the rate of implementation and adoption may be enhanced to a greater degree by other factors such as increasing external cooperation, perceived environmental uncertainties and competitive rivalry attributes.The findings contribute significant insight on both theoretical development and practical implications on the issue of the innovativeness in Malaysian construction industry, with particular reference to the heavy construction sector

Learning with multiple representations: An example of a revision lesson in mechanics

We describe an example of learning with multiple representations in an A-level revision lesson on mechanics. The context of the problem involved the motion of a ball thrown vertically upwards in air and studying how the associated physical quantities changed during its flight. Different groups of students were assigned to look at the ball's motion using various representations: motion diagrams, vector diagrams, free-body diagrams, verbal description, equations and graphs, drawn against time as well as against displacement. Overall, feedback from students about the lesson was positive. We further discuss the benefits of using computer simulation to support and extend student learning.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables http://iopscience.iop.org/0031-912