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Life cycle analysis of steel railway bridges
Get PDFThis paper focuses on the growth of cracks that arise from natural corrosion in steel bridges. It is shown that these two effects of corrosion and stress, need to be simultaneously analysed. A methodology used to compute the growth of such cracks in bridge steels is presented. A better understanding of the remaining life of steel bridges would help establish an assessment procedure and guide engineers when deciding between reinforcement and replacement
Visual Arts, Mental Health and Technology
Get PDFThere are a growing number of research projects in the UK in the field of health and well-being that involve artists utilizing new technologies. This chapter explores current examples of nationally funded projects, exhibitions, and artworks that directly relate to public perceptions of mental health. Lessons learnt from the problems and difficulties encountered by artists collaborating with medical professions are a focus, as is the importance of the medium of video and the use of new technologies such as virtual reality in facilitating the implementation of innovative ideas that have made a significant contribution to the field of arts in health. Anguish and distress are fundamental characteristics of the Western artistic tradition, particularly since the Enlightenment. The visual arts offer opportunities to explore inner personal experiences. Psychiatry has historically used reductionist methods to measure some of these experiences such as mental disorder. Although there has been progress, there has also been an increasing dissatisfaction with the way that reductionist science can drain meaning and lived experience out of its understanding of mental illness. Artists acknowledge that much of our emotional experience is preverbal or nonverbal and occupies an experiential space that is dream-like and difficult to express through words. This chapter investigates the work of several contemporary international artists—individually, and collectively in exhibitions. These include artists using multimedia and those exploring the use of technology in remote locations with vulnerable adults and young people. Several films, videos, animations, documentaries, and online projects involving various public sector organizations and groups of people are also discussed. The lessons learned from collaborative and cross-disciplinary projects are summarized. A research project on art and science continues earlier work where the authors were part of an interdisciplinary research team which completed a pilot study with people attending a mental health outpatient clinic called In-between-ness (www.in-between-ness.co.uk). The original objective was to develop and test methods which could be used to explore the experience of people with a diagnosis of depression as their perception of themselves and the world around them changed through the course of antidepressant treatment. During the pilot, the method was refined and improved, largely as a response to the research participants, who had a strong and distinctive voice. Guided by experts, dialogues and engagement within the collaboration created added value. The chapter concludes by discussing how an expanded team is now ready to conduct a large-scale study using the method they have developed
Camping in a Mudhouse: Ruins and Fragments as Tropes of Reflexivity
Get PDFThis paper contextualizes three iterations of contemporary art practice performed in Delhi, September 2014, and explores the notion that artistic activity occurs first of all in the field of distribution. In this paper I speculate on the insistence of a procedure that uncovers the spaces of potential and allows new voices to emerge through a dispersed practice. These new works are part of a broader practice where I am trying to highlight the creative potential of the fragment to restore an embodied relationship to the world. These new works are a direct result of my speculative proposal included in the exhibition curated by Raqs Media Collective as part of INSERT2014 titled 'New Models on Common Ground' held at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts in Delhi, February 2014. The paper explores creative work that attempts, as Marcel Duchamp once put it, to be not of art, but outside the usual parameters of art and which sidesteps or at least delays being co-opted by the institutions that define art as ‘art’ and that have traditionally distributed it
Religion and happiness: A study among university students in Turkey
Get PDFThere are various models and approaches to counselling and psychotherapy. Nevertheless, one of the most important tools a therapist has is themselves and a key factor in who they are is their psychological type. This study aimed to investigate the psychological type profile of Person-Centred counsellors. The psychological type of 85 counsellors (63 females, 22 males) was measured with the Francis Psychological Type Scales (FPTS). Results indicate that the FPTS can reliably measure psychological type among counsellors, and the most common psychological type was introvert, intuitive, feeling, and judging (INFJ). The relation of these psychological types with a Person-Centred approach is further discussed
Thin film flow on a vertically rotating disc of finite thickness partially immersed in a highly viscous liquid
Get PDFThe entrainment and flow of a thin film of liquid on a vertically rotating disc partially immersed in a liquid bath has been investigated experimentally and modelled numerically. The Volume of Fluid (VOF) Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modelling approach has been employed to characterise the shape and stability of the thin film thickness profile. The thickness of the rotating disc plays a significant role in the thin film profile and this is confirmed through the comparison of simulation with the experimental results. Other factors determining the film thickness were identified as the rotational speed and the fluid viscosity where the film thickness profile increases with the increase of the rotational speed and also the viscosity. A correlation equation to predict the film thickness as a function of angular position, radius, rotating speed, viscosity and surface tension is proposed. The results given in this study specifically report on the thin film thickness variation with the angular direction and the film entrained into the liquid. In both the simulation and experimental results, it is noted that the film thickness stabilises following a rotation of 15° after drag out of the liquid, and remains so until 10° before being dragged back in
A quantitative investigation into paranormal beliefs of the contemporary vampire subculture
Get PDFIt has been argued that the growing resurgence of contemporary vampire literature has resulted in re-emergence of the vampire as a new sexy modern beast to which one is no longer in fear, but rather to a creature that is respected desired and even wanted (Hjelm, 2009). Alongside the literature on fictional vampires, there exists a subculture of ‘real’ vampires who exist within a community that could be viewed as a new category of person (Laycock, 2010). The current study utilises quantitative responses to an online questionnaire established to measure levels of religious and paranormal beliefs among those who claim adherence to the real vampire subculture. A total of 1,384 respondents affiliated with the vampire subculture completed the Revised Paranormal Belief Scale (Tobacyk, 2004). The data confirm that paranormal beliefs are held by a proportion of the subculture; that differences emerge between different groups affiliated with the subculture; and that, in general, the vampire subculture is more accepting of paranormal beliefs than the general public
Cross impact analysis of vehicle-to-grid technologies in the context of 2030
Get PDFThis paper investigates the future of Vehicle-to-Grid technologies to be used in the UK in 2030 using the method of cross impact analysis. The paper describes the procedure of the cross impact matrix generation conducted to produce a multiplicity of scenarios of Vehicle-to-Grid futures. Three consistent scenarios (fossil, average and green) have been chosen for further development, interpretation and analysis to predict the implementation of Vehicle-to-Grid technologies for power grid stabilising and balancing in the future
Assessing the psychological type profile of Canadian Baptist youth : a study employing the Francis Psychological Type Scales for Adolescents (FPTSA)
Get PDFA growing body of international research employing psychological type theory within the context of congregation studies has drawn attention to the way in which churches draw larger numbers of feeling types than thinking types (among both men and women). These studies have focused on adult churchgoers. The present study extends this field of research among 1630 Canadian Baptist youth attending church-based summer youth programmes (aged 12 to 19 years) who completed the Francis Psychological Type Scales for Adolescents. In this new study, 87 % of male youth and 93 % of female youth preferred feeling. The implications of these findings are assessed for the ministry of the Church among thinking types
Apostolic Networks in Britain Revisited
Get PDFThis paper presents an account of the theological ideas that led to the formation of apostolic networks in Britain in the 1970s. It takes note of the function of theology as a driver of ecclesiastical innovation and offers the thesis that, while theology provides ideas and arguments, society is the receptacle into which these ideas are poured. Consequently similar ideas will be expressed in different social forms as society changes. The changes within apostolic networks in the last 15 years are commented upon and the appearance of meta-networks is noted. Equally the emergence of networks within denominational settings is flagged up
Explicit Finite Element Modelling as a Development Tool for New Ultrasound Testing Methodologies for Detection and Characterization of Porosity and Defects in Composites
Get PDFComposite components frequently contain porosity or defects, which might, in some circumstances, be deemed benign. Other defects could lead to progressive or sudden failure in service, hence reliable and accurate material condition monitoring and health assessment is an important prerequisite for further design for the use of composite materials in high duty and life sensitive engineering components. The objective of this paper is to demonstrate the use of explicit finite element as an effective development tool in the development of ultrasound testing methodologies for the characterization of porosity in composites – a virtual ultrasound vibration laboratory. This would enable an improved inspection sentencing capability for as-manufactured composite structural components. It would also be of benefit in sentencing components subject to foreign object damage (FOD), in order to determine whether the component can continue in service, possibly with in-service monitoring or cosmetic repair, or must be condemned. In this work, finite element models simulating damage and porosity are presented. The models are compared with ultrasound tests on real specimens with practically relevant defects. Experimental tests, making use of wave superposition from two piezo-electric vibration sources, are shown to detect energy absorbing damage in the specimen, such as might have been created by impact or crush loads. The same piezo-electric vibration system is also used to measure the dissipated energy. Computational analysis, using simple material model variations, is able to replicate the Lamb wave generation and evolve a wave form resembling a “standing wave”. The computational material model is modified to represent porosity in composites