7440 research outputs found
Sort by
Antipodean men: constructing ruling-class masculinity in early colonial New South Wales, 1800-1850
No full textTheoretical thesis.Bibliography: pages 59-64.Introduction. Masculinity and the early colonial period -- Chapter One. The Macarthurs and the importance of family -- Chapter Two. The role of King's School in Parramatta -- Conclusion. Defining early colonial ruling-class masculinity -- Bibliography.This thesis examines the construction of ruling-class masculinity in the early colonial period in New South Wales. It shows how a specific form of masculinity emerged to cater for the particular demands that political and economic authority wrought on ruling-class men. Consequently, the figure of the British gentleman during this period was renegotiated and then re-enacted by these men in order to meet the uneasy and contradictory ways this masculine ideal was reshaped by these demands. By asking questions of the family and school, this thesis argues that we are able to see this renegotiation play out through two institutions that sustain – and promote – gendered norms and expectations.Through a close reading of the Macarthur family correspondence, this thesis demonstrates the vulnerability of the gentlemanly stereotype in the antipodes, as well as showing John Macarthur’s determination to train his sons James and William in colonial manliness. This thesis also examines the role played by the King’s School inParramatta in constructing ruling-class masculinity, including the ways in which it was founded and its devotion to the schooling system ‘godliness and good learning’. I argue that the formation of an antipodean ruling-class not only paralleled a struggle to consolidate political and economic authority, but also an explicit attempt to construct a particular form of colonial manliness.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (vi, 64 pages
A cognitive study of the ethics of adultery in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The scarlet letter and Edith Wharton's The age of innocence
No full textTheoretical thesis.Bibliography: pages 78-81Chapter 1: Nathaniel Hawthorne's context - Legalism and laws -- Chapter 2: The Scarlet Letter -- Chapter 3: Edith Wharton's context - Modernity and Morals -- Chapter 4: The Age of Innocence -- Conclusion.The novels that constitute my project, Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter (1850) and Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence (1920), challenge the conventional taboo that has seen cultures over centuries reject adulterers generally, and female adulterers more particularly. In their respective representations of sexual transgression, both Hawthorne and Wharton surprise us. Adultery becomes a vehicle through which both authors elevate the scarlet woman to the point of admiration.My enquiry is situated in a transdisciplinary space, combining cognitive approaches to literature, gender studies and close attention to historical sources as well as to the novels. It recruits the capacity of the combination of these approaches to examine Hawthorne and Wharton's primary sources in order to gauge how far these sources shed light on both the intent and construction of their respective texts. The primary value that emerges from this combined approach is considered in close detail, both Hawthorne and Wharton can be shown to have held a high regard for women, a regard that plays out in their fiction. This shared value necessitates drawing on gender studies, looking specifically at how 'the spatial turn' and the question of how women are made to 'perform gender' invite us to recognise the originality of Hawthorne and Wharton's representations of Hester Prynne and Ellen Olenska. By enlisting cognitive approaches to literary studies this thesis identifies the narrative strategies deployed by both novelists to invite the reader to not only empathise with the scarlet woman, but, surprisingly, to admire her.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (vi, 81 pages) illustration
Pictures to objects: transitioning to object oriented programming
No full textEmpirical thesis.Bibliography: pages 127-131.1. Introduction -- 2. Background and related work -- 3. Survey methodology -- 4. Survey results -- 5. System requirements -- 6. Language design -- 7. Language implementation -- 8. Requirements validation -- 9. Discussion -- 10 conclusions -- 11. Future work -- 12. Abbreviations -- Appendices -- Bibliography.Teaching programming is considered hard, but transitioning from procedural to object oriented programming is even harder. Yet, this is what the new National Digital Technologies curriculum expects of every Australian student. An examination of the literature reveals that transitioning to object oriented programmingis diffcult, but for unknown reasons. Here, we examine and study this transition through the literature and a survey. The survey results help us identify programming concepts which are easier, and other concepts which are more diffcult, tolearn. The data gathered suggests that fourteen years old is the optimal age for learning object oriented programming. Based on the information gathered through the literature review and survey, a new visual programming language for the LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 that can assist in the transition to object oriented programming is created. We propose a new measure to determine how hard an object oriented programming language is to learn and discover five potential threshold object oriented concepts. It is hoped this project will provide insight into the transition to object orientation and ease the diffcult transition to object oriented programming.Mode of access: World wide web.1 online resource (xviii, 131 pages diagrams, graphs, tables
Planar rectennas for wireless power harvesting
No full textEmpirical thesis.Bibliography: pages 97-98.1. Introduction -- 2. Background and related work -- 3. Design and prototyping of the rectenna system and key subsystems -- 4. Simulation & results obtained with analysis for prototypes of the rectenna system and key subsystems -- 5. Manufacture and fabrication of the prototypes of the rectenna system and key subsystems-- 6. Physical testing and results obtained with analysis for prototypes of the rectenna system and key subsystems -- 7. Conclusions and future work -- 8. Appendices -- Bibliography.Capturing and harvesting RF energy, using small antennas with an effective conversion of RF energy to DC energy with minimal losses, presents a significant research problem. The project addresses the opportunity to harvest RF energy from dedicated or ambient sources using a rectenna. The overall objective of this project is to successfully design, create and implement and effective rectenna system for low-cost, low-power operation at the 2.45GHz ISM band, the aim is to manufacture a prototype of an optimal rectenna design that is effective. The prototype is used to demonstrate the operating principle of the rectenna, its effectiveness and real world performance. This thesis presents two rectenna systems designed to harvest RF energy. Rectenna system 1 comprises of sybsystem 1, a single microstrip patch antenna, while rectenna system 2 comprises of subsystem 3, a microstrip patch antenna array. Both rectenna systems utilise subsystem 2, the two stage Cockcroft Walton rectifier and multiplier circuit. The rectenna systems and their related subsystems achieved exceptional effectiveness and real world performance with the ability to harvest a significant amount of RF power at 2.45GHz. As a result, the operating principle of the rectenna systems, their effectiveness and real world performance are demonstrated, harvesting enough energy to operate a selection of typical electronic devices such as a 2.1v green LED, digital clock timer and digital humidity sensor, up to a range of 3.5 meters.Mode of access: World wide web.1 online resource (xvii, 98 pages colour illustrations
Factors affecting network handover on mobile devices
No full textEmpirical thesis.Bibliography: pages 73-74.1. Introduction -- 2. Background related work -- 3. Development of the network mapping system -- 4. Data collection -- 5. Data analysis -- 6. Conclusions and future work -- Appendices -- Bibliography.People are constantly on the move and in consistent need of communication. Mobile devices and internet connectivity have now become an integral part of our way of living. To best accommodate the moving person, mobiles need to switch between available networks in an attempt to avoid a break in connection. In an effort to minimise a break in connection and optimise handover, an improved location-based handover algorithm can be developed, taking advantage of cheaper, faster internet and modern day mobile processing. Such a system could map wireless networks and upload data to a server from users as they travel throughout their day to day life. This data may then be processed into an optimised model that can be downloaded as a user passes through an area, improving upon the decisions made by the algorithm. The benefits that could be gained out of mapping networks are currently not known and modern day technology may or may not be suitable to collect high-quality data necessary to produce an accurate model. This leads to the primary focus of this project which is to determine the quality of data that can be collected from a mobile device and how a model produced using this data could benefit the algorithm. Through the development of a system which mirrors its data collection capabilities, the merits of the collected data is analysed to determine the feasibility and benefits the development of this improved location-based handover algorithm. In this project, it is discovered that the data may not be of high enough quality, yet particular situations were found to be potentially beneficial to the algorithm.Mode of access: World wide web.1 online resource (xv, 74 pages colour illustrations, colour maps
Lazy max weight scheduling
No full textEmpirical thesis.Bibliography: pages 215-216.1. Introduction -- 2. Theory -- 3. System model -- 4. Simulation outline -- 5. Simulation results -- 6. Analysis -- 7. Conclusion -- 8. Abbreviations and variables -- Appendices -- Bibliography.Scheduling, resource allocation and load balancing applications are present in all walks of life. Whether it be waiting at a set of traffic lights, in line at a cash register, or in a communication network, these everyday tasks have one thing in common. However, one aspect of resource allocation which has yet to be optimised, is when switch over delays are imposedSuch delays are very common in systems where there must be a reconfiguration of the system's functionality. Some examples include satellite and optical communications, or more simply, the changing of traffic lights at an intersection. Over time, many potential solutions have been proposed on how to minimise the effects of such switch over delays, but these efforts are yet to provide a single, optimal solution.This said, this paper will investigate the behaviour of simulations implementing the theoretical and mathematical insights into the functionality of the Variable Frame-based Max Weight (VFMW) resource allocating policy. As implied by the name of the VFMW policy - frames of various sizes are allocated to particular service vectors in an attempt to mitigate the effects of the reconfiguration delays of which the server is idle. Therefore, a number of additional frame determining functions will be investigated, allowing a potential solution to minimising the system delay while ensuring the system achieves a steady state result.An additional extension to this VFMW policy will also be presented through the simulation to provide evidence that the inclusion of unnecessary reconfiguration delays can have greatly detrimental effects on systems of particular traffic loads.Mode of access: World wide web.1 online resource (xii, 216 pages graphs, tables
The analysis of polymer pipe behaviour in fire conditions
No full textEmpirical thesis.Bibliography: pages 83-85.1. Introduction -- 2. Literature review -- 3. Heat testing apparatus design -- 4. Testing procedure -- 5. Results -- 6. Discussion -- 7. Conclusion -- 8. Future work -- 9. Abbreviations -- Appendices -- Bibliography.This report investigates the properties of polymer pipes of varying materials and their performance in high temperature compression testing. The inherent appeal of pipes being the ease of manufacturing and implementation is also their downfall as polymers are adversely affected by heat. This becomes a major issue when they are implemented instead of metal pipes in fire conditions.With the tendency of polymers to melt away in high temperatures, Hilti has developed products with the aim to address this issue through the implementation of intumescent materials. The presence of this intumescent material in firestop products takes the heat induced swelling characteristic of the material to crush the polymer pipes it surrounds and prevent fire and smoke spread from what would be a gaping installation hole. These intumescent materials are activated at temperatures of over 180°C but little is known about how the polymer pipe is affected by this radial compression under those high temperature conditions due the expensive and wasteful current testing methods.The procedure developed in this report acts as a building block for future development in this area by successfully designing a diametral compression test for polymer pipes. This then extended on to be applied to a designed and purpose built high temperature testing rig allowing for the production of high temperature results for a range of polymer pipes gaining the first results of their kind for this new area of research and investigation.Mode of access: World wide web.1 online resource (xvii, 85 pages colour illustrations
Biomechanics of aneurysms
No full textEmpirical thesis.Bibliography: pages 23-24.1. Introduction -- 2. Experimental methods -- 3. Results -- 4. Discussion -- 5. Conclusions and future work -- 6. Abbreviations -- Bibliography.Determining the stiffness of artery walls is a difficult task due to their dynamic behaviour and presence in the human body. Knowledge of artery wall stiffness would prove invaluable in predicting when an aneurysm is at high risk of rupture. Aneurysm rupture is a failure of the artery wall and hence is directly related to its mechanical properties.Medical imaging techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are able to provide information on a number of mechanical characteristics that are critical to aneurysm behaviour. However, they cannot determine the artery wall stiffness or Young's modulus (E) which is needed to perform a failure analysis.Multiple silicon rubber models of aneurysms will be produced and will vary in stiffness. The models will be placed into a flow circuit to simulate the flow of blood through them. The velocity through the models will then be measured and used to create a velocity stiffness relationship. The process will be repeated for different sized aneurysm models. The velocity stiffness relationship for each sized aneurysm will then be combined into one graph. The size of, and velocity through an aneurysm can then be used to estimate the artery wall stiffness and hence predict the risk of rupture.Mode of access: World wide web.1 online resource (xiii, 24 pages illustrations (some colour
eHealth M2M wireless uplink for LTE cellular networks
No full textEmpirical thesis.Bibliography: pages 83-85.1. Introduction -- 2. Background and related work -- 3. Scheduling mechanism -- 4. Proposed scheduler -- 5. Implementation -- 6. Results -- 7. Discussion -- 8. Conclusions and future work -- 9. Abbreviations -- Appendices -- Bibliography.eHealth is one of the most rapidly growing facets of the medical industry. Future eHealth appllications will require a great emphasis on remote patient monitoring (RPM). To facilitate this a robust scheduling scheme needs to be in place to accommodate the large number of Machine to Machine (M2M) devices which will require network resources. This project looks at utilising the LTE cellular network framework to facilitate wireless M2M communication in the facet of eHealth applications by introducing a hybrid scheduling scheme. the scheduler emphasises proportional fairness by allocating a specific percentage of the available network resources to both human and machine UE's depending on the time of day. It also borrows concepts from maximum throughput scheduling to assign priorities and uses a unique mathematical approach to calculate the amount of resources allocated to each device. It also identifies the optimal transmission time for a given device to accommodate their delay budget requirements. The proposed scheduling algorithm is not an adaptation of any one specific type of scheduling scheme, but rather a hybrid of several schemes to create a scheduling mechanism which is appropriate for the network. The scheduler was then modelled in the VIENNA LTE MATLAB simulator to look at its performance with regards to throughput, bit error rate (BER), and block error rate (BLER). Its performance was then contrasted with existing scheduling schemes, both primitive and hybrid. For ots specific application it outperformed all the other scheduling types that it was comprised of and is the most appropriate for use within its field. The ultimate outcome of this project is a hybrid LTE scheduler which can Effectively be used to assist RPM related eHealth applications over the current 4G/LTE network.Mode of access: World wide web.1 online resource (xix, 85 pages diagrams, graphs, tables
Determine the aerodynamic characteristics of the MQspeed HPV aero-fairing
No full textEmpirical thesis.Bibliography: pages 85-86.1. Introduction -- 2. Literature review and related work -- 3. Equipment selection and load calculations -- 4. LabVIEW coding -- 5. Model design parameter selections -- 6. Testing, results and discussion -- 7. Conclusions and continuing work -- 8. Abbreviations -- Appendices -- Bibliography.In 2013 a group of students began work on designing & building a Human Powered Vehicle (HPV) to challenge for the world speed record, with competition being conducted annually in Battle Mountain, Nevada, USA. At this stage the preliminary designs for the aerodynamic fairing have been developed with the aid of Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) modelling and the base frame & shell plug have been constructed.Due to the theoretical nature of the CFD modelling, there is a need to validate the data to ensure the correct characteristics are being used. This thesis project was established to provide that validation by constructing a reconfigurable model for testing in the Macquarie University wind tunnel. Testing will be conducted using Force & Torque measurements and also by logging air pressure measurements at key positions along the fairing's length. Particle Image Velocimetry readings will also be undertaken, given the availability of time and equipment. After the project is completed, The CFD data will be validated and the continuing theoretical modelling can continue with confidence in the data produced.Mode of access: World wide web.1 online resource (xvii, 86 pages illustrations (some colour )