The cartographies of place: Approaches to audio-visual composition incorporating aspects of place

Incorporating aural and visual elements of a place in a composition serves as a powerful way of exploring the intersection of time, history and geography associated with a location. The combination of these elements acts as an invitation for deeper engagement by offering multiple perspectives of place. One way of exploring these intersections is through incorporating aspects of place—in the form of field recordings, field footage and cartographical information—into audio and audio-visual work, where spatial and physical information can be situated as a way of representing an individual’s surroundings and subjective realities of place. This practice-led exegesis aims to explore how sound and visual elements can combine and resonate with each other, and how such a practice can highlight the connections between artist and place. As part of this exploration, this exegesis discusses a portfolio of works (submitted as part of the examinable thesis) highlighting the connections between artist, history and place, and how these aspects can inform the creation of new work. Methods explored include framing personal and sono-environmental reflections in terms of looking inwards (as a reflection on the self) and looking outwards (as a reflection on the history, cultural significance and geospatial features of place), composition with original and modified field recordings, sonification of maps using graphical sequencing software, and the creation of audio-visual works that additionally combine field footage and music visualisation. These methods for composition provide a powerful way of highlighting personal associations, emotional catharsis and memories of place, by centring personal experience. Through these methods, this exegesis seeks to demonstrate a number of strategies to show how the ephemerality of sound reflects the ephemerality of being, and the fragility inherent in any relationship with place

Policies Governing the Use of Body Cams on Campus: Designing an Online Training Module for Security Officers at University of Hawai‘i

Many police departments and law enforcement agencies are considering the purchase of body-worn cameras (BWC) for their members. BWCs promise to increase accountability during interactions between officers and the public. Officers and private citizens tend to behave differently when they know they are being recorded. Officers behave more professionally and are less inclined to use force unless necessary. On the flip side, BWCs also protect law enforcement personnel against false allegations of misconduct and abuse. The effectiveness of BWCs, however, can only be realized with proper training and policies established to govern their use. The purpose of this instructional design project was to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of a video-based online instructional module to teach security officers at the University of Hawai‘i (UH) about such policies. The two research questions that guided this project were: (1) How effective is the module in teaching the learners to understand the policies governing the use of BWCs on campus? (2) In what way has the learner’s attitudes towards the use of BWCs been impacted after taking this course? The collected data showed that learners scored higher and felt more knowledgeable after having completed the instructional module

Process design for hoist wire rope measurement and adjustment 設計快速量度及調教鋼絲繩的方法

A rubber tyred gantry crane (RTGC) is a mobile gantry crane that is used by Hongkong International Terminals Limited (HIT). The crane has eight wheels and four gearboxes that operate on four of the wheels. The RTGC has a trolley on top, which moves a spreader to different lines to pick up or set down containers... 輪胎式龍門架吊機（RTGC）是用於香港國際貨櫃碼頭的流動龍門架 吊機，4 副車輪共配備8 條輪胎和4 個變速箱，吊機頂部設有滑輪 起重小車，負責將移動吊具移至不同線路，以此吊起或放下貨櫃... Award: Gold奬項: 金

Fracture of particle-modified epoxies: effect of test rate and temperature

This study compares the effect on the fracture energy of epoxy from addition of different weight % of particles, at both quasi-static and high test rates (up to 1 m/s). Silica and core-shell rubber (CSR) particles, and the hybrid of both (from 0.5 weight % to the maximum concentration of 25.4 weight %) are used. Tapered double cantilever beam (TDCB) and single-edge notch bending (SENB) specimens were used for measurement of the fracture energy, Gc. The silica and CSR formulations were then compared with ceramic microsphere and PES formulations. The toughening mechanisms involved were con rmed by fracture surface images obtained from eld emission gun scanning electron microscopy (FEG- SEM). Most of the specimens from all formulations show debonding and void growth is also expected in silica due to the relatively high fracture energy found. As the CSRs were made up from small CSR particles, mostly localised deformations were found, with some debonding of small CSR particles. In ceramic microsphere and PES specimens, fracture energy improvement was small, and the amount of improvement was similar. PES modifed epoxy shows different structures at different wt% as they were dissolved before mixing with the epoxy. Some brittle particles tear o were found in low wt%, while some local phase inversions were found in high wt%. The main mechanisms in PES specimens were particle pull out, bridging and debonding. The experimental results were compared with simulation results using the nite el- ement analysis software `Abaqus' and analytical models. When compared to exper- imental results, analytical models predicted the modulus and fracture energy of each formulation according, predictions agreed with experimental results, while di erent pre- dictions were found from FE model.Open Acces

Effect of Tai Chi Training on Dual-Tasking Performance That Involves Stepping Down among Stroke Survivors: A Pilot Study

Descending stairs demands attention and neuromuscular control, especially with dual-tasking. Studies have demonstrated that stroke often degrades a survivor’s ability to descend stairs. Tai Chi has been shown to improve dual-tasking performance of healthy older adults, but no such study has been conducted in stroke survivors. This study investigated the effect of Tai Chi training on dual-tasking performance that involved stepping down and compared it with that of conventional exercise among stroke survivors. Subjects were randomized into Tai Chi (n=9), conventional exercise (n=8), and control (n=9) groups. Those in the former two groups received 12-week training. Assessments included auditory Stroop test, stepping down test, and dual-tasking test involving both simultaneously. They were evaluated before training (time-1), after training (time-2), and one month after training (time-3). Tai Chi group showed significant improvement in the auditory Stroop test from time-1 to time-3 and the performance was significantly better than that of the conventional exercise group in time-3. No significant effect was found in the stepping down task or dual-tasking in the control group. These results suggest a beneficial effect of Tai Chi training on cognition among stroke survivors without compromising physical task performance in dual-tasking. The effect was better than the conventional exercise group. Nevertheless, further research with a larger sample is warranted

Untersuchungen zur Chemie von [n.n]Ferrocenophanen

Im Rahmen dieses Forschungsprojektes wurden ausgehend von [1.1]Ferrocenophan-1,12-dion über eine Lewis-Säure induzierte Knoevenagel-Kondensation neue [1.1]Ferrocenophan-Derivate synthetisiert. Mit der Durchführung einer McMurry-Kupplung am [1.1]Ferrocenophan-1,12-dion konnte neben der Bildung des [1.1]Ferrocenophan-1-ons auch die Bildung eines Bis[1.1]ferrocenophans beobachtet werden, das an den verbrückenden Kohlenstoffatomen zwischen der jeweiligen [1.1]Ferrocenophan-Einheit eine gesättigte C–C-Bindung aufweist. Die Identität dieser Verbindung konnte durch Kristallstrukturanalyse bestätigt werden

張彝宣傳奇研究

張彝宣，一名大復，明末清初戲曲作家。現存九部傳奇，包括：《醉菩提》、《海潮音》、《釣魚船》、《吉祥兆》、《金剛鳳》、《讀書聲》、《快活三》、《紫瓊瑤》和《雙福壽》。是次研究期望達到兩個目標，一是評定張彝宣劇作的文學價值，二是衡量張彝宣劇作的戲臺演出價值。本文研究方法包括：排場關目分析、喜劇元素分析、行當角色分析、情節編排分析、主題思想分析等。 論文分七章：第一章為研究概況。第二章至第六章分論劇作。第二章討論《紫瓊瑤》與《雙福壽》的排場藝術，分兩部份：第一部份分析單齣排場。第二部份討論腳色人物的調配、關目情節與劇本體製的設計乃至內場與外場的配合。第三章討論《快活三》與《讀書聲》的民間娛樂色彩，分四層面：一、「娛樂」主旨、二、喜劇人物塑造、三、關目技巧、四、插科打諢的喜劇效果。第四章：《海潮音》與《醉菩提》佛教人物的臺上示現，包括妙善觀音與濟公和尚的形象改造，重要的是分析「因緣果報應」和「通神」的主題思想及其舞臺效應和濟公的玩世因緣。第五章討論《吉祥兆》與《金剛鳳》的敘事程式。第六章討論《釣魚船》對《西遊記》的改編及其意義，特別研究劉全夫妻之恩情重義及其意義。第七章是總結

Scribes in Early Imperial China

Scribes were the writing specialists of the ancient world. The study of scribes in ancient China appears to be less developed than those in other ancient civilizations due to the scarcity of the evidence. A group of highly educated intellectuals dominated the transmitted textual tradition in ancient China, and they portrayed scribes as corrupt officials manipulating the laws and documents to their own benefit. This situation has changed dramatically in recent years because of the modern excavation of administrative and legal texts from the workplaces and tombs of scribes in mainland China. These excavated texts allow for the recovery of the scribes’ world, which was previously overshadowed by that of intellectuals. This dissertation presents a social, institutional, and material history of scribes in early imperial China (221 BCE—220 CE). By utilizing both the transmitted and excavated texts, the author argues against the stereotypical descriptions of scribes in current scholarship. Specifically, he examines how scribes evolved from a caste of hereditary specialists to a type of imperial officials during the political and social transitions from the Zhou to the Qin and Han periods; how scribes actually carried out the many administrative tasks under the unified empire and the problems and difficulties they encountered during their official service; and, finally, how the materiality of writing surfaces in early imperial China influenced the administrative work and qualifications of scribes

Multi-stable dissipative structures pinned to dual hot spots

We analyze the formation of one-dimensional localized patterns in a nonlinear dissipative medium including a set of two narrow "hot spots" (HSs), which carry the linear gain, local potential, cubic self-interaction, and cubic loss, while the linear loss acts in the host medium. This system can be realized, as a spatial-domain one, in optics, and also in Bose-Einstein condensates of quasi-particles in solid-state settings. Recently, exact solutions were found for localized modes pinned to the single HS represented by the delta-function. The present paper reports analytical and numerical solutions for coexisting two- and multi-peak modes, which may be symmetric or antisymmetric with respect to the underlying HS pair. Stability of the modes is explored through simulations of their perturbed evolution. The sign of the cubic nonlinearity plays a crucial role: in the case of the self-focusing, only the fundamental symmetric and antisymmetric modes, with two local peaks tacked to the HSs, and no additional peaks between them, may be stable. In this case, all the higher-order multi-peak modes, being unstable, evolve into the fundamental ones. Stability regions for the fundamental modes are reported. A more interesting situation is found in the case of the self-defocusing cubic nonlinearity, with the HS pair giving rise to a multi-stability, with up to eight coexisting stable multi-peak patterns, symmetric and antisymmetric ones. The system without the self-interaction, the nonlinearity 2 being represented only by the local cubic loss, is investigated too. This case is similar to those with the self-focusing or defocusing nonlinearity, if the linear potential of the HS is, respectively, attractive or repulsive. An additional feature of the former setting is the coexistence of the stable fundamental modes with robust breathers.Comment: Phys. Rev. E, in pres