Despite concerns regarding working conditions in Scottish lap-dancing venues being raised in the 2006 report published by the then Scottish Executive’s Adult Entertainment Working Group, women’s experiences of working inside these venues remains under-researched. This thesis provides an up-to-date snapshot of working conditions in the Scottish lap-dancing industry. The study utilised in-depth, semi-structured interviews with dancers which benefitted from the researcher’s involvement in the industry. The inclusion of women’s voices led to the conclusion that wider cultural and economic changes are impacting negatively upon working experiences in venues by adversely altering the dynamics of supply and demand. This means power is felt to be partially shifting from workers to owners, and to a lesser extent, customers. Participants suggest that venues have changed from being enjoyable working environments where money could be made relatively easily to ones where the work embodies the characteristics of precarious labour where competition is rife and projected income is far less certain. A feminist and Foucoudian analysis assists in understanding and explaining these changes. The thesis suggests that simply improving working conditions for women may prove ineffective in the facilitation of a more satisfactory workplace, due to the overriding desire for profit held by both dancers and owners in an industry which has become less financially lucrative. Ultimately, the thesis reveals and explains how shifts outside the lap-dancing venues have affected dancers negatively in different ways, affecting relationships inside the venue, and the actual experience of carrying out the labour. This thesis argues that these shifts have been assisted by the provision of State policy that fails to recognise lap-dancing as a form of labour and is not concerned with dancers safety at work.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 97-107). Also available in print.

Master of Science / Department of Architectural Engineering / Donald J. Phillippi / For this thesis, research was performed on CFRP bonded composite lap-joints with one and two continuous laminas through the lap. Composite wraps used to retrofit existing structures use lap joints to maintain their integrity. The use of composites for retrofitting structures has many advantages over traditional methods, such as steel jacketing, and is becoming more widely accepted in the structural engineering industry. While much literature exists documenting the performance of composite wraps as a whole when applied to concrete columns, less information is available on the behavior of the lap-joint of the wrap. Developing a better understanding of how the lap-joint behaves will help researchers further understand composite column wraps. This research sought to determine what affect continuous middle laminas may have on the stiffness of lap joints and whether or not stress concentrations exist in the lap-joint due to a change in stiffness.

Orientador: Fernando de Azevedo Silva / Banca: José Elias Tomazini / Banca: Silvana Aparecida Barbosa / Resumo: Juntas rebitadas sobrepostas representam elementos críticos na construção de estruturas aeronáuticas quando projetadas à fadiga. Por serem elementos de fixação largamente utilizados na indústria aeronáutica, o estudo de suas propriedades e variáveis à fadiga tem sido cada vez mais amplo. A variável que tem mostrado possuir alta influência na resistência à fadiga de juntas rebitadas é a força de aperto aplicada no processo de rebitagem. A vida da peça tende a ser maior quando o valor dessa força é aumentado. O método dos elementos finitos, que é uma ferramenta de cálculo aplicada nos mais diversos campos de atuação e tem se tornado parte indispensável de projetos mecânicos, é utilizado nesta dissertação para a análise de uma junta rebitada sobreposta de uso aeronáutico. A junta é simulada levando em conta as etapas do processo de fabricação e aplicação, a fim de realizar a análise de seu comportamento mecânico e calcular sua vida em fadiga. Através de um teste experimental de tração monotônica foram obtidos valores de deformação com extensômetros, e é feita a correlação desses dados com o modelo numérico a fim de validar a modelagem. Em seguida são feitas mais duas análises com diferentes forças de aperto, com o objetivo de verificar a influência dessa variação na vida em fadiga da peça. / Abstract: Riveted lap joints represent a critical element in metallic airframe construction when designing against fatigue. These elements are widely used in the aerospace industry, so the study of the fatigue's properties and variables has been increasingly broad. The variable that has shown to have a high influence on the fatigue strength of riveted joints is the clamping force applied to the riveting process. The life of the part tends to be higher when the clamping force applied is increased. The finite element method, which is a calculation tool applied in various fields of activity and has become an indispensable step of mechanical design, is used in this dissertation for the analysis of a riveted lap joint of aeronautic use. The joint is simulated considering the stages of the manufacturing process and application, in order to perform analysis of mechanical behavior and calculate the fatigue life. Through an experimental test of monotonic tensile, strain values were obtained with strain-gauges, and is made the correlation of these data with the numerical model to validate the modeling. Finally two more tests are made with different clamping forces, in order to check the influence of this variation in fatigue life of the joint. / Mestre

No description available.

Syftet med detta arbete har varit att undersöka hur musiker inom den afroamerikanska musiktraditionen ser på sitt musikaliska lärande. Deltagarna har haft olika musikaliska bakgrunder så som låtskrivare, frilansmusiker och instrumentallärare. Undersökningen tar sin teoretiska utgångspunkt ur ett kulturpsykologsikt perspektiv där synen på lärande ses som en process som utvecklas mellan individer i en lokalt rådande kultur. Informanterna har i undersökning fått prova att spela lap steel och dobro i fyra olika stämningar som därefter avslutats med en intervju. Vid dessa tillfällen har deltagarna reflekterat och delat med sig av sina åsikter och erfarenheter som berör deras musikaliska lärande.Resultatet av undersökningen pressenteras i tre kategorier som jag i detta arbete kallar för, det speltekniska perspektivet, gehöret och det visuella lärandet samt det musikaliska uttrycket. Dessa tre kategorier återspeglar vilka parametrar informanterna intagit och redogjort för när de reflekterat över sitt musikaliska lärande. Undersökning visar i detta på en nyansrikedom som berör musikaliskt lärande där både likheter och olikheter bland de medverkande informanterna redovisas.

Behavior of lap splices formed by CFRP rolls has been studied. CFRP rolls have been prepared by using CFRP sheets of a certain width. Strengthening methods that use CFRP rolls as reinforcement may require an epoxy anchored lap splice due to the conditions at the strengthening regions. It may not always be possible to strengthen the region by using only one roll fan anchored at both ends, but using two rolls from opposite faces of the member and lap splicing them at the middle so that they act as a single roll. Lap splice behavior can be studied best by using flexural beam bond specimens if the reinforcing material is steel. Therefore, it has initially been suggested that flexural beam specimens reinforced for flexure with CFRP rolls as tension reinforcement can be used in studying the lap splice behavior. However, due to the difficulties encountered in the beam tests, another type of test specimen was introduced, which was a direct pull-out specimen. In this type of test specimen, lap spliced CFRP rolls have been tested under direct tension, in which the tension has been applied by making use of concrete end blocks that transfer the tension to the rolls. Eleven tests have been made in total. Full material capacity of the rolls could not be achieved due to premature failures. However, important conclusions and recommendations have been made for future studies.

Adhesive bonding which has been in use for long as a traditional joining method has gained ground in the last couple of decades due to the introduction of advanced composite materials into the aerospace industry. Bonded structures have advantages such as high corrosion and fatigue resistance, ability to join dissimilar materials, reduced stress concentration, uniform stress distribution, good damping characteristics etc. They also have certain limitations like environmental degradation, existence of defects like pores, voids and disbonds, difficulty in maintenance and repair etc. A serious drawback in the use of adhesively bonded structures has been that there are no established comprehensive non-destructive testing (NDT) techniques for their evaluation. Further, a reliable evaluation of the effect of the existing defects on strength and durability of adhesive joints is yet to be achieved. This has been a challenge for the research and development community over several decades and hence, been the motivation behind this piece of research work. Under the scope of the work carried out in the thesis, some of the primary factors such as the existence of defects, degradation of the adhesive, stress and strain distribution in the bonded region etc., have been considered to study the bond integrity in composite to composite lap shear joints. The problem becomes complex if all the parameters affecting the adhesive joint are varied simultaneously. Taking this into consideration, one of the key parameters affecting the bond quality, viz., the adhesive layer degradation was chosen to study its effect on the bonded joint. The epoxy layer was added with different, definite amount of Poly vinyl alcohol (PVA) to arrive at sets of bonded joint specimens with varied adhesive layer properties. A thorough review of different non destructive testing methods applied to this particular problem showed that ultrasonic wave based techniques could be the right choice. To start with, preliminary experimental investigations were carried on unidirectional glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP-epoxy) lap joints. The adhesive joints were subjected to non destructive evaluation (NDE) using ultrasonic through transmission and pulse echo techniques as also low energy digital X-ray techniques. The results obtained showed a variation in reflected and transmitted ultrasonic pulse amplitude with bond quality. Digital X-Ray radiography technique showed a variation in the intensity of transmitted x-rays due to variation in the density of adhesive. Standard mechanical tests revealed that the addition of PVA decreased the bond strength. A plot of coefficient of reflection from the first interface and the bond strength showed a linear correlation between them. After obtaining a cursory feel and understanding of the parameters involved with the preliminary experiments on GFRP adhesive joints which yielded interesting and encouraging results, further work was carried on specimens made out of autoclave cured carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP)-epoxy bonded joints. Normal incidence ultrasound showed a similar trend. Analyses of the Acoustic Emission (AE) signals generated indicate early AE activity for degraded joints compared to healthy joints. Literary evidences suggest that the ultrasonic shear waves are more sensitive to interfacial degradation. An attempt was made to use oblique incidence ultrasonic interrogation using shear waves. The amplitude of reflected shear waves from the interface increased with an increase in degradation. Further, a signal analysis approach in the frequency domain revealed a shift in the frequency minimum towards lower range in degraded samples. This phenomenon was verified using analytical models. An inversion algorithm was used to determine the interfacial transverse stiffness which decreased significantly due to increase in degradation. Conventional ultrasonic evaluation methods are rendered ineffective when a direct access to the test region is not possible; a different approach with guided wave techniques can be explored in this scenario. Investigations on CFRP-epoxy adhesive joints using Lamb waves showed a decrease in the amplitude of ‘So’ mode in degraded samples. Theoretical dispersion curves exhibited a similar trend. Frequency domain studies on the received modes using Gabor wavelet transform showed a negative shift in frequency with increased degradation. It was also observed that the maximum transmission loss for the most degraded sample with 40 percent PVA occurred in the range of 650 – 800 kHz. Non linear ultrasonic (NLU) evaluation revealed that the nonlinearity parameter (β) increased with increased degradation. Kissing bonds are most commonly occurring type of defects in adhesive joints and are very difficult to characterize. A recent non-contact imaging technique called digital image correlation (DIC) was tried to evaluate composite adhesive joints with varied percentage of inserted kissing bond defects. The results obtained indicate that DIC can detect the kissing bonds even at 50 percent of the failure load. In addition, to different experimental approaches to evaluate the bonded joint discussed above, the effect of degradation on the stresses in the bond line region was studied using analytical and numerical approach. A linear adhesive beam model based on Euler beam theory and a nonlinear adhesive beam model based on Timoshenko beam theory were used to determine the adhesive peel and shear stress in the joint. Digital image correlation technique was used to experimentally obtain the bond line strains and corresponding stresses were computed assuming a plane strain condition. It was found that the experimental stresses followed a similar trend to that predicted by the two analytical models. A maximum peel stress failure criterion was used to predict failure loads. A failure mechanism was proposed based on the observations made during the experimental work. It was further shown that the critical strain energy release rate for crack initiation in a healthy joint is much higher compared to a degraded joint. The analytical models become cumbersome if a larger number of factors have to be taken into account. Numerical methods like finite element analysis are found to be promising in overcoming these hurdles. Numerical investigation using 3D finite element analysis was carried out on CFRP-epoxy adhesive joints. The adherend – adhesive interface was modeled using connector elements whose stiffness properties as well as the bulk adhesive properties for joints with different amounts of PVA were determined using ultrasonic inspection method. The peel and shear stress variation along the adhesive bond line showed a similar trend as observed with the experimental stress distribution (DIC) but with a lesser magnitude. A parametric study using finite element based Monte-Carlo simulation was carried out to assess the effect of variation in various joint parameters like adhesive modulus, bondline thickness, adherend geometrical and material properties on peel and shear stress in the joint. It was found that the adhesive modulus and bond line thickness had a significant influence on the magnitude of stresses developed in the bond line. Thus, to summarize, an attempt has been made to study the bond line integrity of a composite epoxy adhesive lap joint using experimental, analytical and numerical approaches. Advanced NDE tools like oblique incidence ultrasound, non linear ultrasound, Lamb wave inspection and digital image correlation have been used to extract parameters which can be used to evaluate composite bonded joints. The results obtained and reported in the thesis have been encouraging and indicate that in specific cases where the bond line thickness and other relevant parameters if can be maintained or presumed reasonably non variant, it is possible to effectively evaluate the integrity of a composite bonded joint.

In this Thesis, the problems of the Free Flexural (or Bending) Vibrations of Composite, Orthotropic Plates and/or Panels with Various Bonded Joints are formulated and investigated in detail. The composite bonded plate system is composed of Plate Adherends adhesively bonded by relatively very thin adhesive layers. The general problem is considered in terms of the three Main PROBLEMS, namely Main PROBLEM I, Main PROBLEM II and Main PROBLEM III. The theoretical formulation of the Main PROBLEMS is based on Mindlin Plate Theory which is a First Order Shear Deformation Plate Theory (FSDPT). Thus, the transverse shear deformations, the transverse and the rotary moments of inertia of the plates are included in the formulation. Very thin, elastic deformable adhesive layers are considered as continua with transverse normal and shear stresses. The damping effects in the plates and the adhesive layers are neglected. The entire composite bonded joint assembly is assumed to be simple supported along the two opposite edges, so that the Classical Levy&amp / #8217 / s Solutions can be applied in this direction. The dynamic equations of the Bonded Joint System which combines together the Mindlin Plate dynamic equations with the adhesive layer equations are reduced to a system of First Order Ordinary Differential Equations in the state vector form. This special form of the Governing System of the First Order Ordinary Differential Equations are numerically integrated by means of the Modified Transfer Matrix Method which is a combination of the Classical Levy&amp / #8217 / s Method, the Transfer Matrix Method and the Integrating Matrix Method (with Interpolation Polynomials and/or Chebyshev Polynomials). The Main PROBLEMS are investigated and presented in terms of the mode shapes and the corresponding natural frequencies for various sets of boundary conditions. The significant effects of the hard and the soft adhesive layer elastic constants on the mode shapes and on the natural frequencies are demonstrated. Some important parametric studies such as the influences of the Joint Length Ratio, the Joint Position Ratio, the Bending Stiffness Ratio, etc. on the natural frequencies are computed and plotted for the hard and soft adhesive cases for several support conditions.

This study presents the experimental results of nine full-scale lap spliced glass-fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) reinforced concrete (RC) columns, and one additional reference steel-RC column with lap splices, under axial and cyclic-reversed loads. The test parameters included type of reinforcement, lap splice length of longitudinal reinforcement, transverse reinforcement spacing, and the effect of using steel fiber-reinforced concrete (SFRC). Test results indicated that a splice length of 60 times the diameter of the longitudinal column bar was adequate in transferring the full bond forces along the splice length and were able to maintain the lateral load carrying capacity when subjected to higher levels of axial loads and drift ratios. In addition, lap spliced GFRP-RC columns with closely spaced transverse reinforcement achieved high levels of deformability. Furthermore, the use of SFRC in columns with inadequate splice increased the peak lateral strength and the energy dissipation of the specimens. / February 2017