As social media has emerged to become a key site for contemporary communications and cultural production, the internet meme has penetrated every level of social networking online. Albeit being a global phenomenon with pervasive discursive power in a number of fields ranging from humour to international politics and cyber warfare, comparatively little research has been made into how internet memes work on the discursive level of identity formation and their influence on the formation of internet-based social movements. Using Reddit stock market anarchists r/WallStreetBets as case study, this thesis will use Critical Discourse Analysis to analyze how internet memes work on the level of socio-political formations and how their function can be understood in relation to entropic social environments online. This thesis investigates how internet memes are used as a tool for creation of motifs for action, identity markers, connective action, and social narrativization within an ambivalent social movement online. Introducing the novel term ”memetic discourse” as a way to understand memes as transferable units of memetically programmed content, this study shows the potential of memes to act as effective yet unstable modes of communication within networked environments.

The objective of this diploma thesis is an evaluation of die-castings porosity, eventually the evaluation of seats with local squeeze in connection with their mechanical and structural properties. The swatches of alloy AISi9Cu3 were taken from the engine block made by  koda Auto Company, Mlad Boleslav. To the evaluation and the comparison of the results there were the other VUT FSI Brno students´ theses used.

In this work have been identified mechanical and fatigue properties of magnesium alloy AZ31 with 0.5% calcium, which was cast using squeeze casting. In addition, it was observed microstructure of the alloys and made fractographic assessment of fracture surfaces after fatigue loading.

The purpose of this dilploma thesis is to evaluate mechanical and structural properties of two types casts of Al-alloy (components of the engine block) which were made by different technologies. Die casting with local squeeze casting and without local squeeze casting. First of them is used in lot manufacture of the current engine block. The aim of the foundry is to change the technology and start to produce new block by the die casting without local squeeze casting. The samples were taken from the both parts (lower and upper part) of the current and the new engine block which are made in foundry of Skoda Auto a.c. in Mladá Boleslav. Sets of mechanical and structural properties were selected, evaluated and tested by statistical programs. It was used fifty casts of the engine blocks for the experiment.

Microstructure and mechanical properties of AZ61 magnesium alloy in cast condition and after solution annealing were compared. The compare of mechanical properties of alloy, their hardness and microanalysis of occurring phases are included in this work. For compare has been used a light microscopy, tensile test, hardness measurements and scanning electron microscopy.

The present study is focussed on assessment of cyclic deformation response and fatigue behaviour of bare and precorroded AZ31 magnesium alloys. Corrosion degradation was carried out in a salt spray fog (5% solution of sodium chloride) for 480 and 1000 hrs. Microstructure, mechanical properties, low- and high-cycle fatigue behaviour of experimental material in as-cast condition has been evaluated. Furthermore, the corrosion behaviour of material has been investigated. The fatigue tests have been performed using precorroded specimens to assess influence of corrosion degradation on cyclic deformation response and on low- and high-cycle fatigue behaviour. Influence of local corrosion degradation on initiation of fatigue cracks has been studied.

This master’s thesis deals with design and preparation of a new biodegradable magnesium alloy based on Mg-Ca-Zn. Based on information from literature, the Mg-3Zn-2Ca alloy was designed. The base material was produced by gravity casting and the evaluation in the as-cast and heat treated state was performed. For preparation of the experimental material, following methods were designed: squeeze casting, hot rolling and the ECAP. During preparation by hot rolling, no optimal conditions were found and significant cracks occurred in both as-cast and heat treated material. In the case of experimental material, prepared by the ECAP method with back-pressure, better combination of stress-strain properties was observed. Also the squeeze casting method showed improvement; especially the amount of casting defects was eliminated. The evaluation of microstructure and mechanical properties was performed by the light and scanning electron microscopy, RTG phase analysis and the tensile and compression tests.

Aluminium matrix composites are among the most promising candidate materials for light weight and high strength applications such as transportation and armour. In a previous study 6061 aluminum matrix composites reinforced with plain weave carbon fiber preform (AS4 Hexcel) were successfully fabricated by squeeze casting using the laminate fabrication technique. This research aims at optimizing the fabrication process in order to achieve improved strength and mechanical properties. It focuses on the liquid infiltration squeeze casting method. Good mechanical bonding between fiber and aluminium is achieved thanks to improved infiltration and impregnation of the fabric by liquid aluminium. Oxidation products at fiber/aluminium interface and porosity are reduced. As a result, composites are produced with overall improved mechanical properties. The flexural strength is increased by up to 19.9% and 15.4% compared to the laminate approach and the reference 6061 aluminium alloy squeeze cast under identical conditions, respectively. Similarly, overall hardness is improved. However, the impact strength is reduced by 7.76% and 25.78% when compared to casts fabricated by the laminate method and the reference aluminium alloy, respectively. The thesis constitutes a good basis for further research on fiber and particle reinforced aluminium matrix composites with the goal of further improving fracture toughness, particularly for gradient materials used in armour applications.

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The first objective of this dissertation is to present hybrid numerical-analytical approaches and reduced-order models to simulate microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) in multi-physics fields. These include electric actuation (AC and DC), squeeze-film damping, thermoelastic damping, and structural forces. The second objective is to investigate MEMS phenomena, such as squeeze-film damping and dynamic pull-in, and use the latter to design a novel RF-MEMS switch. In the first part of the dissertation, we introduce a new approach to the modeling and simulation of flexible microstructures under the coupled effects of squeeze-film damping, electrostatic actuation, and mechanical forces. The new approach utilizes the compressible Reynolds equation coupled with the equation governing the plate deflection. The model accounts for the slip condition of the flow at very low pressures. Perturbation methods are used to derive an analytical expression for the pressure distribution in terms of the structural mode shapes. This expression is substituted into the plate equation, which is solved in turn using a finite-element method for the structural mode shapes, the pressure distributions, the natural frequencies, and the quality factors. We apply the new approach to a variety of rectangular and circular plates and present the final expressions for the pressure distributions and quality factors. We extend the approach to microplates actuated by large electrostatic forces. For this case, we present a low-order model, which reduces significantly the cost of simulation. The model utilizes the nonlinear Euler-Bernoulli beam equation, the von K´arm´an plate equations, and the compressible Reynolds equation. The second topic of the dissertation is thermoelastic damping. We present a model and analytical expressions for thermoelastic damping in microplates. We solve the heat equation for the thermal flux across the microplate, in terms of the structural mode shapes, and hence decouple the thermal equation from the plate equation. We utilize a perturbation method to derive an analytical expression for the quality factor of a microplate with general boundary conditions under electrostatic loading and residual stresses in terms of its structural mode shapes. We present results for microplates with various boundary conditions. In the final part of the dissertation, we present a dynamic analysis and simulation of MEMS resonators and novel RF MEMS switches employing resonant microbeams. We first study microbeams excited near their fundamental natural frequencies (primary-resonance excitation). We investigate the dynamic pull-in instability and formulate safety criteria for the design of MEMS sensors and RF filters. We also utilize this phenomenon to design a low-voltage RF MEMS switch actuated with a combined DC and AC loading. Then, we simulate the dynamics of microbeams excited near half their fundamental natural frequencies (superharmonic excitation) and twice their fundamental natural frequencies (subharmonic excitation). For the superharmonic case, we present results showing the effect of varying the DC bias, the damping, and the AC excitation amplitude on the frequency-response curves. For the subharmonic case, we show that if the magnitude of the AC forcing exceeds the threshold activating the subharmonic resonance, all frequency-response curves will reach pull-in. / Ph. D.