Elemental Blends Research Articles

Patchwork Gothic in Polish Vampire Films

The article explores the emergence of Gothic elements in Polish cinema, specifically in the realm of vampire films. Despite the Polish literary market being saturated with horror, Polish cinema has conspicuously shied away from the genre for decades. However, the popularity of Hollywood Gothic cinema has influenced the once-hermetic Polish film industry, leading to the inclusion of classic Gothic themes, characters, and visuals in Polish vampire films. The article delves into the history of Polish horror cinema, and its relation to Hollywood Gothic cinema, whilst focusing on the vampire aspect of horror. In addition, it highlights the concept of “patchwork Gothic”, which involves blending elements of western and Slavic cultures, aesthetics and characters. By analysing two Polish vampire films, I Like Bats (1985) and The Lullaby (2010), in reference to the notion of patchwork Gothic, the author argues that the combination of disparate cultural influences creates a unique and dynamic interpretation of the Gothic genre in Polish cinema.

An artificial intelligence approach for interpreting creative combinational designs

Combinational creativity, a form of creativity involving the blending of familiar ideas, is pivotal in design innovation. While most research focuses on how combinational creativity in design is achieved through blending elements, this study focuses on the computational interpretation, specifically identifying the ‘base’ and ‘additive’ components that constitute a creative design. To achieve this goal, the authors propose a heuristic algorithm integrating computer vision and natural language processing technologies, and implement multiple approaches based on both discriminative and generative artificial intelligence architectures. A comprehensive evaluation was conducted on a dataset created for studying combinational creativity. Among the implementations of the proposed algorithm, the most effective approach demonstrated a high accuracy in interpretation, achieving 87.5% for identifying ‘base’ and 80% for ‘additive’. We conduct a modular analysis and an ablation experiment to assess the performance of each part in our implementations. Additionally, the study includes an analysis of error cases and bottleneck issues, providing critical insights into the limitations and challenges inherent in the computational interpretation of creative designs.

Anaximanders world: Magic, Religion, and Science

The massive attention paid to science nowadays has already led to a prejudice against religions and magics. This paper is developed based on the unbalanced situation of ancient cultures and traditions against pure science. In this essay, Greek philosopher Anaximanders ideas and worldviews compared to ancient magic and religions will be demonstrated according to the passed down records. In order to fully cover his ideas, the essay is separated into three main parts, Thaless, Anaximanders, and Anaximenes ideas, making sure that every significant influence on him and the correlation among his ideas is incorporated. With the reappearance of Anaximanders claims, we wish to clarify the compact relationships between magic, religions, and early science and the blending elements in Anaximanders world. Moreover, the triple helix of these three crucial humanity topics is able to correct the one-sided mistakes caused by pure rationality and to reform a mentally comprehensive and physically fast developing world.

"The Sun Shadow IV" Breaks the Musical Language, Artistic Interest and Universal Technical Techniques of Guzheng Composition.

This paper mainly describes the development of the expression of traditional zheng music in China. Since the1980s, and particularly in the 21st century, Chinese composers have emerged as a significant force in the global music industry. Qin Wencheng, as one of the most influential contemporary composers, has successfully blended elements of Mongolian music with Western modern compositional techniques, resulting in his unique artistic style and sonic experiences. This research paper focuses on his composition "Shadow of the Sun IV" and aims to analyze the creation of new sounds and the logical structure within the piece. Furthermore, it seeks to elucidate the influence of Chinese aesthetic concepts on Qin's musical compositions, uncovering his distinctive creative techniques and musical ideas. Additionally, this paper provides an analysis and interpretation of the historical significance and position of Qin Wencheng within the development of modern Chinese music. By delving into the depths of the musical score and exploring the connections between the internal and external aspects of the music, this study aims to establish a broader understanding of contemporary music composition and offers valuable insights for both composers and music analysts.

A Comprehensive Study on Hot Deformation Behavior of the Metastable β Titanium Alloy Prepared by Blended Elemental Powder Metallurgy Approach

A Comprehensive Study on Hot Deformation Behavior of the Metastable β Titanium Alloy Prepared by Blended Elemental Powder Metallurgy Approach

Meta-Existentialism in Albert Camus' Cross Purpose: Deconstructing Narrative Layers of Absurdity Concerning Human Choices

The present essay intends to look through and into the play Cross Purpose (1943) by Albert Camus as an illustration of existential philosophy, looking at how the characters—Jan and Martha in particular—maneuver through the absurdity of life. Echoing Camus' central theme of absurdity, it will examine the futility of pursuing moral clarity in a universe devoid of inherent meaning. The play's criticism of society norms, questioning of accepted morality, and blending elements of dark comedy and tragedy to produce an engaging theatrical experience will also be examined in this paper. By closely analyzing Cross Purpose, this paper hopes to add to the larger conversation about existential issues and the search for purpose in life's meaning in an oblivious universe. With a meta-existentialist lens, this essay also aims to evaluate the play and uncover intricate narrative layers that represent the complexities of existential philosophy. Through nuanced structural details and character interactions, it will look at how Camus incorporates the absurd into the narrative and challenges the audience to think about the nature of storytelling and meaning formation.

There has to be a better way

With your laptop open in front of you, you’re ready to take notes on the new teaching intervention being introduced at today’s session. You’re feeling distracted by the research ideas you wanted to work on this morning, and the assessment grading you need to finish this afternoon. Today wasn’t a good time to focus on course development, but it was the only time this professional development session was being offered. At the end of the session you leave with a collection of notes, some great ideas, and the enthusiasm to implement changes that really make a difference. You go back to your grading, your research, and your teaching. Weeks later you look at your notes and wonder how you’re going to actually make those changes. There has to be a better way. As a TELedvisor, you find these one-off professional development sessions just as frustrating. Fresh teaching ideas are presented, champions share their exemplary practice, and opportunities for collaboration are provided, but often the same fully engaged academics attend each session. Overall improvement in course development across the institution doesn’t take place. You could run a day or three of focused course design sessions, if lecturers could commit to attending. You could have instructional designers develop the online or blended elements of a course, but if the teacher isn’t invested, or doesn’t understand the reasoning behind the design or the activities that have been implemented, then time-poor lecturers often teach in the way that they’ve been used to. Formal qualifications in tertiary teaching can support the development of a greater understanding, but only a few lecturers have the time or the enthusiasm to undertake these. There has to be a better way. The Academic Development team are trying something different at the University of Canterbury. We are implementing a learner centric process for professional development for teaching and course development. We have designed a flexible, blended, learner driven professional development process, in which lecturers are invited to take part. This process utilises many of the recommended practices for effective professional development (Cordingley et al.,2015; Darling-Hammond et al.,2017; Hertz et al., 2022; Richardson & Díaz Maggioli, 2018) as well as strategies we recommend for tertiary teaching, and is undertaken at a time and pace that works for the lecturer(s) of a course. Through both format and content, the process provides examples of good practice, involves lecturers in flipped learning, offers expert support, incorporates collaborative course development, and promotes reflective practice. How has this process been designed? How does it work? How is it being implemented? Is it having an impact? Commit seven minutes of your time to finding out (and bring your laptop to take notes).

DIPLOMATIC DEXTERITY: MONGOL QAGHANS OF THE YUAN DYNASTY AND THE QUEST FOR EAST ASIAN HEGEMONY

This study examines the foreign policy and diplomacy pursued by the Mongol Khans during the Yuan Dynasty (1268-1369), who held the titles of both Mongol qaghan and Chinese Emperor. Specifically, Qubilai Qaghan, who received the title of Khan at a qurultai held in the city of Shangdu, located in present-day Beijing, rather than the Orkhon region traditionally used for convening qurultais, and without the participation of all Mongol nobles, had to establish his legitimacy throughout his life both among the Mongols and the people he conquered in Asia. For this purpose, he utilized diplomacy and foreign policy as much as conquests. Within the scope of this study, the rhetoric and legitimacy foundations used in diplomacy are examined, taking into account not only the Goryeo kingdom in Korea, which became a vassal of the Mongol Empire but also regional states such as Japan, which did not acknowledge Mongol superiority and dominion, as well as diplomacy conducted with states in Southeast Asia and Europe. During this period, the Yuan Dynasty successfully blended elements of legitimacy belonging to China with those from the Turkic-Mongol tradition in its foreign policy, thereby leaving a lasting diplomatic legacy, especially in East Asia.

Improved XFEM for 3D interfacial crack modeling

The conventional extended finite element method (XFEM) usually suffers from the crack tip enrichment for removing the blending elements. This may be inconvenient when treating the three dimensional (3D) and curved crack modeling since the crack tip enrichment is usually defined in the local coordinate system depending on the crack front. To avoid these shortcomings of the XFEM, an improved enrichment scheme is proposed for the 3D interfacial crack modeling. The proposed enrichment scheme removes the crack tip enrichment and two weight functions are introduced to capture the strong and weak discontinuities in the element including the crack front. The new enrichment scheme has advantages for the 3D curved interfacial cracks since all the enrichment functions are defined in the global system and it is unnecessary to introduce additional coordinate systems. Several benchmark problems including the mixed mode stress intensity factors (SIFs), anti-plane load and curved cracks are analyzed by the proposed method with the local refinement technology. Numerical results demonstrate that the proposed method can obtain accurate 3D energy release rate and SIFs. In addition, the proposed method enhances the applications of XFEM and has the potential abilities to the multiple-fields coupling and interfacial crack growth phenomena due to the fact that compatible enrichment functions are utilized.

An Investigation into the Microstructural Response to Flexural Stresses of a Metastable β‐Phase Ti Alloy produced by Blended Elemental Powder Metallurgy

A Ti‐10V‐3Al‐3Fe metastable β Ti alloy is strained under three‐point bending conditions according to the ASTM E290‐14 standard. A combination of electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) mapping and high‐resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) is used to investigate the microstructural response to flexural stress. Results reveal a delayed formation of the deformation products, due to the load‐bearing capacity of the constituent voids. The deformation products are confined in narrow bands on either side of the fracture surface. {332}⟨113⟩ twinning system is identified as the primary deformation mode followed by the formation of α″ martensite both in β matrix and β twins. Accommodation of the microscopic strain arising from the development of α″ structure and β‐twinning triggers the formation of fine deformation‐induced ω plates, which are observed predominantly at the interfacial plane of β/β twin and β/α″, and also in the interior of the β twins.

POZZOLAN EFFECT ON THE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF SCBA BLENDED CEMENT TREATED SOIL

The recent agricultural and industrial waste reduction research has focused on monetary, sustainable environment, and technological considerations. Discarded raw materials such as rice husk ash, fly ash, coir fiber and silica fumes were widely explored and successfully utilized as blending elements for cement. Current studies have proved that Sugarcane Bagasse Ash (SCBA) produced from sugar production has a pozzolanic reaction due to the high substance of amorphous silica in this raw material. This research would boost the insight of potential blending agents that can reduce the cost and stabilize problematic soil. This study intends to evaluate the effect of SCBA blended cement on improved soil’s mechanical properties, including the shear strength and the compressibility of the treated soil. Unconfined Compressive Strength test was conducted to attain the compressive behavior, while the One-Dimensional test was performed to examine the compressibility behavior. The tested samples with SCBA show a beneficial effect in terms of both compressive strength and compressibility. This study proved that SCBA could be applied at least as a partial substitute to the Portland cement.

Mechanical Properties of Ti–5Al–5V–5Mo–3Cr Alloy Sintered From Blended Elemental Powders

The field-assisted sintering technique (FAST) was successfully used to sinter, homogenize, and age the Ti–5Al–5V–5Mo–3Cr (Ti-5553) aerospace alloy from blended elemental powders in a single processing run. Sintering at a comparatively high temperature of 1500 °C assured chemical homogeneity of the material. Subsequently, without cooling to the room temperature, the temperature was lowered to 600 °C for 30 min to provide annealing treatment and to produce a desired lamellar α + β microstructure. Using an in-house designed assembly, a fully dense rod of 15 mm in diameter and 70 mm in length was successfully sintered. Microstructural and mechanical properties of the alloy were investigated and compared with the conventionally processed Ti-5553 alloy. A good combination of strength (1183 MPa) and ductility (6 pct) was achieved; these values are fully comparable to the conventional cast, forged, and aged Ti-5553 alloy. It was shown that homogeneous Ti-5553 alloy can be produced by FAST, FAST can instantly provide necessary annealing steps, and the FAST process can be upscaled to produce homogeneous rods.

Microstructural Characteristics of Ti‐Based Composites with Various Ceramic Reinforcements Manufactured via Hydrogen‐Assisted Blended Elemental Powder Metallurgy

Highly dense in situ reinforced titanium matrix composites are fabricated with hydrogen assisted two-stage press-and-sintering method as described in the article, number 2101689 by Yuchao Song, Tuo Cheng, Orest Ivasishin and co-workers. Type and size of starting ceramic additives have substantial impact on the microstructure formation, residual porosity, and hardness of the pre-sintered composites. Sintering of hydrogenated pre-alloyed powders at second processing stage ensures desirable microstructure, improved density and uniformity of composites.

The effect of goal-setting prompts in a blended learning environment—evidence from a field experiment

We investigate how inviting students to set task-based goals affects usage of an online learning platform and course performance. We design and implement a randomized field experiment in a large mandatory economics course with blended learning elements. The low-cost treatment induces students to use the online learning system more often, more intensively, and to begin earlier with exam preparation. Treated students perform better in the course than the control group: they are 18.8% (0.20 SD) more likely to pass the exam and earn 6.7% (0.19 SD) more points on the exam. There is no evidence that treated students spend significantly more time, rather they tend to shift to more productive learning methods. The heterogeneity analysis suggests that higher treatment effects are associated with higher levels of behavioral bias but also with poor early course behavior.

The influence of Al-based powder additives on the sintering behaviour of Ti–6Al

The sintering behaviour of Ti–6Al was studied using DSC, dilatometry and microscopy. Blended elemental (BE) and master alloy (MA) mixtures, each at two powder sizes, were compared. During heating, the elemental Al in the BE mixtures melted, spread and exothermically reacted with the surrounding Ti particles to form an evenly distributed intermetallic layer over these particles. This exothermic reaction, from ∼550 to 700 °C, was associated with an expansion of the material due to a Kirkendall effect. No such reaction occurred in the MA mixtures since their additions were already in intermetallic form. Sintering rates generally increased once Ti transformed to the β phase (above 882 °C). However, in the BE mixtures this increased sintering rate was delayed due to the presence of intermetallic layers that first had to dissolve. When sintering at 1200 °C, the BE mixtures homogenized faster than the MA mixtures as a result of the Al being more evenly distributed in the sample from the BE melting event. MA additions introduced higher levels of O and N as impurities, which broadened the temperature range of the α to β phase transformation. The use of fine scale BE additions for Al, to allow in-situ alloying of Ti, presents an optimal approach when taking into account homogenization, low impurity content and sintering densification.

Resilience and recovery in neurosurgical residency: Unpacking lessons from video game mechanics

IntroductionNeurosurgical residency is a challenging journey demanding cognitive acuity and resilience, mirrored strikingly in the dynamics of video gaming. Gaming concepts of Down-But-Not-Out (DBNO), Heal-over-Time (HoT), and Damage-over-Time (DoT) can serve as compelling analogues to elements of neurosurgical training. Material and methodsAn innovative, cross-disciplinary methodology was implemented, blending elements of autoethnography, personal reflective narrative, and comprehensive literary review. The cornerstone of this approach was an experiential reflective analysis, where two neurosurgical residents critically examined the parallels between their residency experiences and video game mechanics, thereby applying a lens of heuristic introspection to their professional journey. Complementing this, a comprehensive narrative synthesis of existing literature on resilience, wellness, and stress in neurosurgical residency training was conducted. ResultsThe DBNO concept parallels the resilience demonstrated by neurosurgical residents, emphasizing the importance of a supportive network. The HoT concept, analogous to wellness practices, underscores the incremental restoration of energy necessary for maintaining stamina in neurosurgery training. The DoT concept symbolizes the need to manage the often insidious and deleterious effects of chronic stress on residents' wellbeing. Discussion and conclusionThese gaming concepts provide an integrative framework for understanding the challenges faced and strategies employed in neurosurgical residency. The interplay between resilience, wellness practices, and effective stress management, represented by DBNO, HoT, and DoT respectively, is critical for maintaining health and fostering professional excellence. By embedding these metaphors within the training paradigm, the neurosurgical residency journey can be navigated more effectively, promoting not only professional success but also personal growth and wellbeing.

Mechanical behavior of bilayer structures of Ti64 alloy and its composites with TiC or TiB under quasi-static and dynamic compression

Bilayer structures of titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4V (Ti64) and metal matrix composites (MMC) on the base of this alloy reinforced with 5, and 10 % (vol.) of TiC or TiB particles were made using press-and-sinter Blended Elemental Powder Metallurgy (BEPM). The mechanical behavior of these structures was studied under quasi-static and high strain rate compression. Dynamic tests with compression velocity in the range 4–15 m/s (820–2880 s−1) were done using the split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB), whereas the quasi-static tests were performed with compression velocity of 0.0005 m/s (10−3 s−1). Stress–strain curves were obtained and the effect of phase composition, microstructure, and strain rate was analyzed and discussed. Current results were compared with previous studies conducted on homogeneous MMCs and Ti64 alloy tested in similar conditions. The deformation mechanism evaluated from the microstructure analysis of the samples was verified using in-situ high-speed camera recordings. Numerical simulation based on Finite Element Analysis was conducted to further investigate the behavior of the samples during the SHPB trials. Generalized scheme of the deformation and damage process of two-layer alloy/composites hybrids as a function of compression rate was proposed.

A new enrichment scheme for the interfacial crack modeling using the XFEM

A new enrichment scheme is proposed for the interfacial crack modeling in the framework of extended finite element method (XFEM), in which the approximation of displacement in the element including the crack tip is reconstructed by only the Heaviside function and the material interface enrichment function. The proposed enrichment scheme can model not only the discontinuity of displacement across the crack surface but also the discontinuity of displacement gradient across the material interface in the crack tip element with the weight functions. In addition, no blending elements are introduced and it is unnecessary to define the ramp function in the new XFEM formulation. The static and dynamic stress intensity factors (SIFs) of interfacial cracks are analyzed by the new enrichment scheme and the results show that the effect of material interface in the crack tip element plays a significant role in the accuracy of fracture mechanics parameters and the proposed method can predict the deformation more accurately and obtain a more stable dynamic SIFs. The proposed new enrichment scheme can be extended to three dimensional crack modeling in future works.

Microstructural Characteristics of Ti‐Based Composites with Various Ceramic Reinforcements Manufactured via Hydrogen‐Assisted Blended Elemental Powder Metallurgy

The manufacturing of in situ reinforced titanium matrix composites by the sintering of titanium hydride and ceramic powder blends is an attractive and cost‐efficient process. Herein, a novel two‐stage (double‐compaction/double‐sintering) hydrogen‐assisted powder approach is suggested to produce uniform highly dense Ti‐based composites reinforced with TiB, TiC, and dual TiC + TiB phase particles. In this approach, the hydrogenation and milling of presintered products enable the initial porous materials to transform into hydrogenated prealloyed (PA) powders of controlled sizes, and a second press‐and‐sinter process further converts the PA powders into nearly dense composite microstructures with evenly distributed fine reinforcements. The adverse effect of the raw reinforcing powder size on microstructure uniformity, porosity, and mechanical characteristics of the presintered in situ composites becomes negligible in final sintering stage. The reduction of the porosity and enhancement of the hardness indicate that the hydrogen‐assisted double‐compaction and double‐sintering blended elemental powder metallurgy (BEPM) + PA approach enables the low‐cost fabrication of Ti‐based composites with suitable mechanical characteristics.

In-situ alloying of Ti-5Fe titanium alloy using direct powder forging and the effect of the powder mixing method

This study investigates direct powder forging (DPF) as a new approach for the consolidation and in-situ alloying of the titanium alloy Ti-5Fe from loose powder. The absence of green compaction before thermomechanical processing and the effect of the powder blending method have been found to significantly influence the chemical and microstructure homogeneity. Two different powder mixing techniques were compared, ball milling (BM) and blended elemental (BE). After the initial heating stage, the BM sample has a uniform α+β lamella microstructure within the particles with a homogeneous iron distribution, unlike the BE sample, which shows a heterogeneous lamella microstructure, retained β-Ti (Fe-rich) and TiFe intermetallic compounds. Even if the BM samples exhibit a slightly higher density over the BE samples after the initial heating stage, all samples achieved full density and had a α+β lamella microstructure after the thermomechanical steps. However, for the BE sample, even if the DPF process was able to eliminate the intermetallic compounds, the thermomechanical process did not homogenize the iron, resulting in a heterogeneous and coarser microstructure. Based on the results, it can be concluded that DPF using a BM technique led to a fully homogenous and fully consolidated Ti-5Fe alloy. Therefore, direct powder forging has significant potential as an alternative fabrication strategy to produce the Ti-5Fe alloy. Moreover, this work can expand the opportunities for the development of the promising Ti-5Fe alloy.