Academic literature on the topic 'Experimental Theater Experimental Theater'

It was in the mid-twentieth century that the independent theatrical form based entirely on improvisation, known now as improvisational/improvised theatre, impro or improv, came into existence and took shape. Viola Spolin, the intellectual and the logician behind the improvisational movement, first used her improvised games as a WPA worker running theater classes for underprivileged youth in Chicago in 1939. But it was not until 1955 that her son, Paul Sills, together with a college theater group, the Compass Players, used Spolin’s games on stage. In the 1970s Sills made the format famous with his other project, the Second City. Since the emergence of improv in the US coincides with the renaissance of improvisation in theater, in this paper, I will look back at what may have prepared and propelled the emergence of improvised theater in the United States. Hence, this article is an attempt to look at the use of improvisation in theater and performing arts in the United States in the second half of the 20th century in order to highlight the various roles and functions of improvisation in the experimental theater of the day by analyzing how some of the most influential experimental theaters used improvisation as a means of play development, a component of actor training and an important element of the rehearsal process.

Many performing venues in Taiwan are historical. After long-time use, both the structure and equipment system of these venues have aged, thus causing critical impact on the stage, lighting, and sound effects. Based on the case of the Experimental Theater at the National Theater, this study investigated what should be noticed when renovating the theater lighting system, in order to provide an innovation guide for the management. This study also gathered the relevant information for maintaining the theater lighting system, in order to provide a reference for maintenance personnel to ensure the usability and functionality of dimmer systems.

Tina Landau's writing and directing work has gained increasing prominence over the last decade. She has made strides in both the experimental and the musical theater arenas, and her accomplishments in each are noteworthy independent of each other. However, her concurrent interest and success in both arenas, which are commonly viewed as quite disparate, make her work particularly interesting. These interests, which might seem incongruent, are actually interrelated; her work in one area influences her work in the other, a fact which is evident both in her rehearsal process and the end products. Her experimental work has a musical sensibility and her work in musical theater is quite experimental. This thesis examines works for which she was both writer and director as representative examples: 1969, Stonewall: Night Variations, Space, Floyd Collins and Dream True. Her amalgamated sensibility results in a directing style which serves contemporary musicals, particularly "smart musicals," well.

This document describes and analyses the process of research and production for the experimental play Via Marina: A woman's journey. Based on a personal experience between the Mexican and the Canadian lifestyles, Via Marina presents a vision toward the benefits of transdisciplinarity for the stage. By definition, transdisciplinarity is a new approach marked by the rapid advance of technology that seeks to create new areas of knowledge working between, across and beyond disciplines. For my Master's project I expermented among New Media, Women's Studies and Theatre Arts to learn to intertwine these disciplines on stage by creating a theatrical production based on a transdisciplinary technique. As a result of two-years of practical and theoretical research, the creation of the production Via Marina tries to break the conventional theatre forms using a transdisciplinary mixture of video, dance and feminist exploration of gender roles. It is just beginning of the development of a new language transcending disciplines in my work as actress, director, artist - woman.
viii, 102 leaves : ill. ; 29 cm.

The object of this dissertation is to re-assess Australian examples of ???performance??? in light of discourses and directions in dramaturgy that have emerged since the 1970s internationally. The thesis applies Hans-Thies Lehmann???s comprehensive theory of post-dramatic theatre to explicate examples of departures from dramatic theatre in view of the expansive field of inquiry implied by the description ???performance??? or ???new media arts??? and general cultural-political theory. To examine the de-centralisation of text specific to post-dramatic theatre the dissertation analyses firstly, material devised collaboratively at all stages of creative development in its case studies of the Sydney based companies The Sydney Front (1986-1993) and Open City (1987 -); and secondly, Heiner M??ller???s concept of ???literature??? written for the theatre and in opposition to its convention. In addition, the analysis of M??ller serves as an introduction to a comparative analysis of a dramatic (literary) theatre project by a group of Aboriginal artists based on a post-dramatic text by M??ller. This dissertation endeavours to contribute to documentation on post-dramatic theatre in Australia and more broadly, to conceptions of contemporary forms of dramaturgy. More specifically, the thesis argues that dramaturgy no longer necessarily concerns the identification of an aesthetic locus that explicitly explicates the audience???s relation to a known macrocosm. Instead, the thesis conceives of dramaturgy as a compositional strategy that can be thought of within the bounds of Aristotle???s perfunctory visual dimension ???opsis??? and elaborated upon in terms of Kristeva???s theory of the ???thetic??? as regulating ???semiotic??? incursions into the ???symbolic??? order. In doing so, the thesis proposes the concept of a ???televisual??? and an ???abject??? dramaturgy, the latter on the basis of a relation to the older tradition of carnival and identifies a link between intertextuality (transposition) and dramaturgical strategies that engage the spectator in the theatre situation and the dissolution of logocentric hierarchy.

Thesis (MPhil)--Macquarie University, Division of Society, Culture, Media and Philosophy, Department of Critical and Cultural Studies, 2007.
Bibliography: leaves 241-251.
Introduction -- Re-devising theatre: towards a genealogy of devising practice -- Pre-devising: group formation, development and games -- Devising theatre: This is not an exit -- Conclusion.
This non-traditional thesis explores the practical and theoretical processes of group-devised theatre. The research informing this thesis is derived from two interrelated components - a practical project in group devising, and a theoretical study of alternative theatre, devising methodologies, and performance theory. -- Chapter One defines "devising" before tracing its origins through the development of experimental practices from the historical avant-garde to the present day. These practices include radical disruptions to discursive language and structure, increased multimedia, reconsiderations of the performer's function and the use of improvisation. This genealogy is argued to be a "literature of practice" capable of informing contemporary devising projects, as well as helping to establish the position of devising within contemporary performance theory. -- Chapter Two examines how creative collaborators begin to form and function as a devising group, a period I theoretically term "pre-devising". By examining the experiences of my group, gaps in devising literature concerning group formation and composition are identified, complemented by an investigation into the role of theatre games in building ensemble. -- Chapter Three draws upon the genealogy of devising, devising literature and performance theory to interrogate the process of devising our production, This Is Not An Exit. The theoretical and practical problems of our methods are explored. These methods include organising the group as an artistic democracy, developing naturalistic characters, and establishing a "postmodern aesthetic". By analysing our experiences, this chapter attempts to illustrate the complex tangle of influences informing contemporary performance practitioners, and highlight areas ripe for future critical research.
Mode of access: World Wide Web.
251 leaves

Crave, the play I chose to direct as my thesis final project, constitutes a complex and crude portrait of our time, a moment in history marked by violence and individualism. These themes permeate the whole script, with its experimental and poetic style constitutes a challenge at the moment of staging it. This document is intended precisely to register the whole process of staging Crave. The first chapter presents the pre-production research, in which I trace the artistic trajectory of the author, British playwright Sarah Kane, in the context of experimental theater. I also analyze the play, and I present my directorial approach to it. In the second chapter I register the actual process of staging it; the methodologies I used in working with the actors and the designers, as well as the challenges I faced in applying them. Finally, the last chapter is a reflection upon the whole process, with the intention of evaluating my growth as a theater director through this project, which constitutes my final step in these training years at SIUC.

Ausgangspunkt der vorliegenden Arbeit war es, das theaterhistorische Phänomen des chinesischen experimentellen Theaters komparatistisch sowohl als das Ergebnis der Begegnung zweier sehr verschiedener kulturhistorischer Linien (China/ Europa) zu beschreiben als auch in den traditionellen Kontext chinesischer Theaterinnovationen einzuordnen und aus ihm heraus zu erklären. Behandelt wird u.a. der machtpolitische Kontext interkultureller Begegnungen. Es stellt sich die Frage, ob man auf einem "transzendentalen Hügel hockend" China beobachten kann. Man ist immer wieder mit der Frage konfrontiert, aus welcher Perspektive man bei der Untersuchung anderer Kulturen zu adäquaten Ergebnissen kommen kann. Soll man einen aussenstehenden Beobachterposten behaupten oder soll man anerkennen, dass die eigene Anwesenheit vor Ort den Beobachtenden bereits involviert in das zu Beobachtende oder soll man sich seiner eigenen Aktivität bewusst werden und den ohnehin fiktiven Objektivitätsstatus bewusst aufgeben? Ich konnte während der Arbeit an der Inszenierung "Leg deine Peitsche nieder - Woyzeck" in Peking künstlerische und Alltagskommunikation erleben und Einsichten gewinnen, die ohne diese Arbeit unmöglich gewesen wären. Die chinesische Kultur hat bereits frühzeitig Schriftsysteme und eine Schriftkultur ausgebildet. Dennoch haben meine Untersuchungen ergeben, dass die Bereiche der Wissensvermittlung (Lern- und Lehrverhalten), der darstellenden Künste und der sozialen Kommunikation bis in unser Jahrhundert hinein von einer Tradition oraler Techniken und Kommunikation geprägt sind. Ganz wesentlich ist z.B. traditionell der Aspekt der LEIBLICHKEIT bei der Wissensvermittlung. Das Leibwissen eines Lehrers wird durch ständiges Üben und Wiederholen durch den Schüler in dessen Leib inkorporiert. Die Schüler (im profanen, im religiösen oder künstlerischen Bereich) werden hauptsächlich in das WIE der Übungen, nicht aber in das WARUM eingewiesen, weil sich aus der Logik dieses Denkens ergibt, dass sich aus der ausgefeilten Qualität des Geübten mit der Zeit der Sinn dessen über den Leib des Schülers von selbst erschließt. Oralen Techniken von Wissensvermittlung ist es eigen, dass sie dem Wiederholen größeren Wert beimessen als dem Neuerfinden. Dies ist eine Traditionslinie, die noch heute für das chinesische Sprechtheater wirksam ist. Innovation im chinesischen Kontext bedeutet vor allem Detailinnovation, aufbauend auf ein gegebenes Modell. Die chinesische Gesellschaft verfügt über ein reiches Instrumentarium theatraler Kommunikation. Aufgrund der Sozialstruktur und des ausgeprägten Relationsdenkens verfügen die kulturell Kommunizierenden über "shifting identities" wie Jo Riley es für die Darsteller im chinesischen traditionellen Musiktheater feststellte und wie Rosemarie Juttka-Reisse ein adäquates Phänomen für die Praxis von sozialem Rollenwechsel in sozio-kulturellen Kommunikations- und Interaktionsprozessen nachwies. "Shifting identies" bedeutet, dass Kommunizierende in der Lage sind, spontan und flexibel auf neue Kommunikationskontexte mit dem entsprechenden performativen Instrumentarium zu reagieren. Dieser Umstand hat weitreichende Konsequenzen für die Rollengestaltung im chinesischen Theater. Zum Beispiel ist der Brecht'sche Begriff der Verfremdung aus diesem Grunde NICHT oder bestenfalls nur partiell auf das chinesische Theater anwendbar. Die Brecht'sche Verfremdungstheorie ist nicht dem chinesischen Theater abgeschaut, sondern auf das chinesische Theater projiziert. Im Zusammenhang mit dem Leiblichkeitskonzept steht eine spezifische Vorstellung der EINVERLEIBUNG von Wissen, auch nicht-chinesischen Wissens. Beispielsweise wird bis in die 1990er Jahre hinein immer wieder auf die VERDAUUNGSMETAPHER zurückgegriffen. Das Einverleibungsprinzip, welches in engster Verbindung mit dem chinesischen Ahnenkult steht, ist mindestens einmal einer Fundamentalkritik unterzogen worden. Kurioserweise geschah dies nach der Einverleibung westlichen Wissens, insbesondere der Fortschrittsidee und der Vorstellung evolutionärer historischer Weiterentwicklung. Lu Xun nämlich prägte die Metapher der Menschenfresserei, die sich auf die als reaktionär erkannte Einverleibung "feudalistischen" Wissens aus der alten, dem Westen unterlegenen chinesischen Gesellschaft bezog. Seither gibt es die "fortschrittliche" und die "reaktionäre" Verdauung, wobei der Diskurs um kulturelle Identität, um Erneuerung und Bewahrung immer wieder neu festzulegen versucht, was gegebenfalls nützlich oder nutzlos ist. Die Entstehung des chinesischen experimentellen Theaters ist ohne das Eingebettetsein in historische Linien der chinesischen Theatergeschichte nicht erklärbar. Aneignungsmuster in bezug auf die Aufnahme neuer Anregungen aus anderen Kulturen haben eine traditionelle Logik entwickelt, die man nur erkennen und einordnen kann, wenn man sich ausführlich den historischen Voraussetzungen und Rahmenbedingungen von Theater in China widmet. Deshalb bin ich auf diese historischen Linien ausführlich eingegangen. Das experimentelle Theater in China setzt diese Linie fort. Deshalb kann man schlussfolgern, dass das chinesische Sprechtheater "eine Art Pekingoper mit anderen Mitteln" ist, und nicht ein bürgerlich-westliches Sprechtheater mit chinesischer Kolorierung. Das chinesische Theater hat sich über die langen historischen Zeiträume seiner Entstehung als sehr aufnahmefähig für interkulturelle Anregungen gezeigt. Man kann sagen, dass es das Ergebnis dieser Interaktionsprozesse ist. In diesem Sinne ist die Integration westlicher Theaterstile und damit auch die Entstehung des experimentellen Theaters als traditionelle Strategie im Umgang mit dem Fremden anzusehen. Es handelt sich tendenziell nicht (nur) um einen Ausdruck von Modernität, sondern von Tradition. Es ist in der chinesischen Theatergeschichte nicht um die Echtheit/ Authentizität des adaptierten ausländischen Materials gegangen, sondern hauptsächlich um die Anwendbarkeit im eigenen Kontext. Das wiederum führt folgerichtig zu dem Schluss, dass es z.B. keine "falsche" Rezeption westlichen Theaters in China geben kann, sondern nur eine chinesische. Der experimentelle Zugang zu neuen Formen innerhalb der chinesischen Theaterkultur ist ein historisch praktizierter. Die chinesische Praxis des Experiments ist historisch verbunden mit einer Praxis des Ausprobierens, Integrierens, Ausschmückens, einer Art Patchwork-Strategie. Im Gegensatz zum westlichen Begriff des Experiments ist diese Praxis nicht an abstrakte Hypothesenbildung und die systematische Beweisführung gebunden. Hauptinstrument neuer Erkenntnisse war die empirische Beobachtung. Die Entstehung des experimentellen chinesischen Theaters im 20. Jahrhundert, welches erstmals an verschiedene Begrifflichkeiten gebunden wird und nicht einfach als historische Praxis dem chinesischen Theater inhärent ist, deutet auf eine neue Qualität dieses Phänomens in der chinesischen Theatergeschichte hin. Die neue Qualität im Vergleich zur historisch-experimentellen Praxis besteht darin, dass die chinesische Kultur erstmals in ihrer Geschichte als Hochkultur Asiens mit einem ernstzunehmenden, hegemonial operierenden Feind konfrontiert war, der mit seinem ökonomisch-militärischen Potenzial die Qualität der chinesischen Kultur als Ganzes in Frage stellte. Nun sahen sich die chinesischen Eliten gezwungen, die westlichen Mittel zum chinesischen Zweck des Überlebens zu machen. Aus diesem Grunde wurden westliche Ideen und Praktiken, wie z.B. das bürgerliche Sprechtheater rezipiert. Dies musste als Praxis aber auch als Begriff umgesetzt werden. Aus diesem spezifischen Entstehungskontext ergibt sich eine unterschiedliche Richtung der Theateravantgarden in China und im Westen. Während die historische Theateravantgarde im Westen in ihrer Kritik am bürgerlichen Theaterkonzept und in ihrer Auseinandersetzung mit Industrialisierungs- und Technologiesierungsprozessen auf "Retheatralisierung" des Theaters drängte, gingen die chinesischen Theaterkünstler den entgegengesetzten Weg. Die neuen historischen Erfahrungen ließen sich in den volkstümlichen Geschichten und den historischen Analogien des traditionellen chinesischen Theaters und in ihrer stilisierten Theatralität nicht mehr adäquat darstellen. Plötzlich wurde ein neues Realismuskonzept, welches nach DETHEATRALISIERUNG drängte, wesentlich. Darüberhinaus gehört es zur historischen Linie des chinesischen Theaters, dass es stark profitierte sowohl von nicht-chinesischen Anleihen anderer Theaterkulturen als auch von den Volkskünsten der eigenen Kultur. Es waren zunächst Laiendarsteller und Amateurtheaterkünstler, die in den 1920er Jahren die vielfältigen Kategorien des chinesischen "experimentellen" Theaters erfanden und später in einen professionellen Status überführten. Neben den kulturellen Einflüssen des westlichen Imperialismus war China ebenfalls mit dem hegemonialen Bestreben insbesondere des sowjetischen Kulturimperialismus konfrontiert. Die sowjetische Kulturpolitik favorisierte das Stanislawski-Konzept. Dieses wurde dann zunächst, nach Gründung der VR China 1949, zu einem der Grundpfeiler der Idee eines neu zu entwickelnden chinesischen Nationaltheaters. Seit den 1980er Jahren wird es zunehmend kritisiert. Seitdem werden andere westliche Konzepte interessant. Dazu gehören die Konzepte der westlichen historischen Avantgarde ebenso wie die des absurden und weitestgehend postmodernen Theaters. Seit den 1990er Jahren sind zwei Haupttendenzen im modernen chinesischen Theater festzustellen. Zum einen unterliegt das Theater rigiden Kommerzialisierungstendenzen. Zum anderen sieht sich das Theater einer Vielzahl neuer Unterhaltungsmedien (TV, Kino, Karaoke, Shows etc.) gegenüber, die es veranlassen, sich verstärkt auf die spezifischen Möglichkeiten theatralen Ausrucks zu besinnen. Das führt dazu, dass nun sowohl das theatrale Potenzial des klassischen chinesischen Theaters interessant wird ebenso wie die Retheatralisierungsversuche der westlichen Avantgarde. Seit Mitte der 1980er Jahre ist eine erneute, hitzige Debatte über Begriff und Inhalt von experimentellem Theater im chinesischen Kontext zu beobachten.
The starting point of this paper was both to describe the theatre-historical phenomenon of Chinese experimental theatre in a comparative way, as the result of the encounter of two culture-historical lines differing very much (China/Europe) and to put it in its proper historic context and thus to explain from its context. The power-political context of intercultural encounters is dealt with. The question arises whether one would be able to watch China at all " sitting on a transcen-dental hill". You are constantly facing the question from which perspective you can achieve adequate results when researching/ investigating foreign cultures. Should you maintain your (external) observer status or should you recognise that your own presence at the site involves the observer what he watches or should you consciously give up the anyhow fictitious status of objectivity. While staging "Put down your whip - Woyzeck" in Beijing at the State theatre called Central Experimental Theatre I could experience both artistic and every-day communication, without which this paper would and could never have been written. The Chinese culture has developed writing systems and a written culture early on in history. Nevertheless, my study has shown, that instruction (learner and teacher behaviour), performing arts and social communication have been highly influenced by the oral tradition of communication throughout the centuries. The aspect of corporality in instruction is essential. The teacher's incorporated knowledge is transferred to the student's body through permanent exercise and repetition/revision. The student (worldly, religious and artistic spheres) is taught HOW to do the exercise but not necessarily WHY because part of this thinking is the idea that the awareness of the meaning of the skill comes to the student through his body. This implies that it is a characteristic feature of oral instruction/information stresses repetition rather than innova-tion. This line of tradition has always been efficient for the Chinese spoken drama, even today. Innovation in a Chinese context means chiefly innovation of detail based on a model given. The Chinese society developed a rich variety of tools of theatrical communication. Due to the social structure and a well-developed relational thinking the cultural communicators have "shifting identities" as Jo Riley stated it in terms of the performers in the Chinese traditional music thea-tre. Rosemarie Juttka-Reisser confirmed an adequate phenomenon for the practice of switching social roles in processes of socio-cultural communication and interaction. "Shifting identities" means that communicators are capable of spontaneously and quickly responding to new communication contexts through adequate performative sets of instruments. This has an impact on the performance of roles in Chinese theatre. Therefore the Brechtian term of alienation, for instance, can not or only partly be applied to Chinese theatre. Thus, the Brechtian theory of alienation is not derived from Chinese theatre but rather projected to it. Linked to the concept of incorporation of knowledge is a specific image of incorporation of knowledge including the non-Chinese one. Up to the 1990s the metaphor of digestion had been used again and again. The principle of incorporation which is closely connected with ancestor cults underwent fundamental criticism at least once. Curiously enough, this happened after the incorporation of Western knowledge, in particular of the idea of progress and evolution/ revolution. Lu Xun coined the metaphor of cannibalism. This relates to the traditional incorporation of the so-called "feudal" knowledge based in the Chinese culture which has been understood as inferior to the West. Since then there has been "progressive" and "reactionary" digestion; discourse about cultural identity, about renewal and preservation of Chinese values has always been trying to re-determine what is useful or useless respectively. The appearance and existence of the Chinese experimental theatre can not be explained without it being embedded in the line of Chinese (theatre)history. Patterns of acquisition in terms of the perception of new stimuli from other/foreign cultures have developed a traditional logic which can only be recognized and categorized if you have a deeper understanding of the historic condition and the whole framework of theatre in China. Therefore I dealt with this historical line in detail. The experimental theatre in China continues this line to a certain extend. This results in the Chinese spoken theatre being "a kind of Beijing opera with a different approach" but not a bourgeois Western spoken drama with a Chinese touch. Throughout its history the Chinese theatre has always readily absorbed intercultural stimuli. So you can say that these processes of interaction have contributed to contemporary Chinese theatre. Thus you can regard the integration of Western theatre styles including the development of the experimental theatre a highly traditional strategy for encountering and dealing with the foreign element. This strategy is not an expression of modernity only but mainly of tradition. Chinese theatre history was not particularly interested in the authenticity of the adopted foreign material but in its application within the Chinese context. This has led to the conclusion that there cannot be any "wrong" perception of the Western theatre in China but only a Chinese. The experimental approach to new forms within the Chinese theatre culture has been used all the time. The Chinese experimental practice has indeed been linked with integrating, ornamenting and trying out resulting in a kind of patchwork. In contrast to the Western term of experiments this practice does not depend on abstract hypotheses and proofs systematically shown. This is partly due to Western sciences focussing on mathematics while Chinese sciences were concentrating on dealing with problems of relations (physics). Therefore they (have) preferred empirical observation to mathematical analysis in order to achieve new knowledge. In contrast, the experimental Chinese theatre in the 20th century, reflects a new quality in their approach to theatre which, for the first time, attempts to use concepts like in the Western theatre. The reason for this new approach resulted from the fact that for the first time in its history Chinese culture as an Asian high culture was faced with a serious hegemonially operating enemy that questioned the quality of the Chinese culture as a whole through its economic and military potential. The Chinese intellectual elite was forced to respond to the Western threat by using Western methods (including spoken drama) in order to survive: using a Western means to a Chinese end. These specific historical circumstances and power relations have led to different directions of avantgarde theatre movements in China and the West in the early 20th century. Western and Chinese theatre artists went opposite ways: while the former initiated the Re-theatralisation in their criticism of the bourgeois theatre concept and of industrialisation; the latter focused on De-theatralisation which had become a new concept, that of realism/ naturalism. The new experiences of the time could no longer be expressed in their folktales and historical analogies of the traditional Chinese theatre and its stylised theatricality. Amateurs (in particular students of big cities) were the first to invent the various categories of a Chinese "experimental" theatre and later transformed its status into a professional one. Apart from cultural influences of Western (including Japan) imperialism China faced the same problems with the Soviet cultural imperialism. The Soviet cultural policy favoured Stanislavsky's concept. This idea became the basis of a new Chinese national theatre which was to develop after the formation of the People's Republic of China in 1949. Since the 1980s it has increasingly been criticised. In addition other Western concepts have attracted attention including concepts of the Western historical avantgarde, the theatre of the absurd and post-modern theatre. Since the 1990s two major tendencies of modern Chinese theatre can be stated. On the one hand, the theatre is subject to rigid tendencies of commercialisation (which means that the state cut the subsidies), on the other hand, the theatre is confronted with a variety of new entertainment media (TV, cinema, karaoke, shows etc.) which make it remember its specific oppor-tunities of theatrical expression (now including traditional Chinese theatre forms). At the moment a new heated debate about the term and the content of experimental theatre is going on.

This article continues the analysis of distance learning in the teenage association "GLAGOL". Currently, there is an increased interest in the field of e-learning, especially during the quarantine period. The article describes the experience of using social networks Vkontakte, Zoom, Discord for organizing online educational process, video and photo hosting Youtube, Instagram, Tik Tok for publishing reporting materials by students in the period from March 2020 to January 2021. A number of problems were identified during the experimental online work and effective recommendations for their elimination were developed.

Generations of warfighters have benefited from field manuals to provide instructional knowledge for creating improvised devices and capabilities from readily available resources. These devices range from simple fundamentals to classified advances in materials and technologies. A collaborative effort between the United States Military Academy and the U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center is creating the latest repertoire of capabilities for soldiers in theater. An improvised electric arc welder was developed to provide field expedient capabilities to them. Both AC wall power and DC power from car batteries were utilized to demonstrate various options. This paper provides the electrical models, experimental results and lessons learned. Welds were tested in a tension tester to determine their viability.

A paper discusses consequences of the neglect of universal features of macro- and microscale boiling uncovered by the basic model “theater of a director”, such as control of developed boiling heat transfer by nucleation at microscale, regardless of the inputs and composition of individual cooling mechanisms, pumping effect of growing bubble, micro-membrane pumping, and multi-factoring phenomenon. Average effective radius of nucleation sites, representing universal characteristic length of the process, irrespective to its scale, also remained outside the attention of boiling researchers. It is shown that neglect of above fundamentals and, especially, full misunderstanding with the characteristic length, turned the sphere of boiling at mini- and microscale into a purely experimental research. Even the attempts to classify boiling channels with respect to the transverse size are deprived of physical grounds. The ways to overcome the existing deadlock situation are also addressed.

The work presented here details the development of a wireless instrumentation architecture for direct gait measurement in a transfemoral prosthesis. The system comprises a pair of multi-axis load cells located proximal to the ankle and knee joints of the prosthesis that provide a measure of moments and axial force above and below the prosthetic knee. The kinetic measurements are supplemented with knee kinematics measured using a modular goniometer attached lateral to the prosthetic knee and ground contact as indicated with a pneumatic sensor at the prosthetic heel. Each instrument wirelessly transmits collected data to host PCs, enabling direct gait measurements free of the constraints of a conventional gait laboratory setting. The data acquisition system was evaluated with a single subject with unilateral transfemoral amputation walking with a polycentric knee, composite energy-return foot, and daily-use socket. Experimental results were collected for the subject walking through a theater, enabling the rapid acquisition of gait data for level-ground walking and incline ascent/descent without the need for a motion-capture camera array or floor-embedded force plates.

In this work, the tactile temperature of home theater systems under natural convection conditions has been investigated through numerical approaches and experiment. The CFD analysis method was used to observe temperature changes of both the case top and the heat source. Based on numerical simulation results, four types of steel sheet mock-up having different vent sizes and locations were tested. As a consequence of the experiments, relationships in temperature variation between the case top and the heat source were investigated and verified. In addition, by using the validated and improved vent system, a fanless home theater system was proposed under high heat dissipating heat sources.

Theatre teaches is a new experiment carried out at the University of Brescia. The growing importance of transversal competences i.e. those skills that essentially concern attitudes in the workplace and interpersonal relationships such as team work, language and communication skills, gave us the idea to develop an educational innovation to help students bring out these skills. We asked students to wrote a play using topics seen in class. So, they tried to wrap their mind around it and worked in team to write a script and get him to scene. Not to be confused to business theatre, this method is applicable in any framework. The assessment results reveal that students appreciate this method because this work helps them to express theirself better and, in general terms, they could improve their non techniocal skills. In conclusion, we can say that this experiment has been a success and gave the students the opportunity to show transversal competences. The ability to communicate, to teamworking, to manage conflicts, to speak in public, to problem solving, creativity, imagination, the ability to manage unforeseen situations and tolerate pressure and stress, leadership skills, negotiation skills and the ability to motivate are just few of the emergent competences.