Journal articles on the topic 'Industries Australia Energy consumption Mathematical models'

The Nigerian power problem resulted to incessant and erratic supply of electricity and this has destroyed many industrial processes in the country. It has reduced productivity and has increased unemployment rate in the country to over 50million (this figure is over 70% of Nigerian youths). This has led many of the youths in the country to crime. It has led to the deaths of many innocent people in the country. As of 2016, the electricity energy consumption in the world from the world fact book revealed that the average power per capita (watts per person) in the United States is 1,377 Watts. In Canada, it is 1704 Watts per person and in South Africa; it is 445 Watts per person and in Australia, average power per capita (watts per person) is as high as 1,112 Watts. Whereas, the average electricity consumed in watts per person in Nigeria is just 14 Watts. Unfortunately, this has put the country in a rank of 189 out of 219 countries estimated. In this research work, a Hybrid Electric Power System (HEPS) which comprises Hydro Electric Power Plant (HEPP) and Diesel Generator (DG) was modelled and a control algorithm was established to improve the performance of the system. Hybrid power system mathematical and Simulink models were developed. The output power of the developed Simulink model was be optimized using optimum power point optimization techniques and control algorithms. Simulink models of the two components of the Hybrid Electric Power System were produced using MATLAB/Simulink software. The develop Simulink models was interconnected and final model was developed. The results obtained revealed that the problems associated with conventional methods of power generation was overcomed by the development of this renewable and non-renewable energy resources Hybrid Electric Power System (HEPS) models.

Manufacturing industries based on Internet of Things (IoT) technologies play an important role in the economic development of intelligent agriculture and watering. Water availability has become a global problem that afflicts many countries, especially in remote and desert areas. An efficient irrigation system is needed for optimizing the amount of water consumption, agriculture monitoring, and reducing energy costs. This paper proposes a real-time monitoring and auto-watering system based on predicting mathematical models that efficiently control the water rate needed. It gives the plant the optimal amount of required water level, which helps to save water. It also ensures interoperability among heterogeneous sensing data streams to support large-scale agricultural analytics. The mathematical model is embedded in the Arduino Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for sensing the soil moisture level and checking whether it is less than the pre-defined threshold value, then plant watering is performed automatically. The proposed system enhances the watering system’s efficiency by reducing the water consumption by more than 70% and increasing production due to irrigation optimization. It also reduces the water and energy consumption amount and decreases the maintenance costs.

Carbon peak and carbon neutrality are two new terms that are being mentioned more frequently, and the measurement of carbon emissions has become an important research topic. Based on relevant data, this paper studies the relationship and evolution law of the driving factors of carbon emissions from energy structure and industrial structure as well as the result factors of carbon emissions from energy consumption, and then establishes corresponding mathematical models. The driving factors, result factors, and relationship attributes that are difficult to measure in the carbon emissions from energy structure and industrial structure are analyzed to fathom the evolution law of carbon emissions and absorption. Based on the results, phased and global suggestions for carbon neutrality have been suggested, taking into account the characteristics of different industries and regions.

Modern trends in the development of mechanical engineering and other industries related to the production of materials and structures with a given set of physical, mechanical, and technological properties are aimed at reducing material consumption, energy consumption, increasing accuracy, reliability, and competitiveness of the manufactured product. Therefore, the creation of mathematical methods for assessing the stress state of structural elements based on the analysis of the elastic characteristics of a material, taking into account the peculiarities of its internal microstructure, is an actual task. The considered algorithm includes the following stages: identification of strength parameters using data obtained from images of the material microstructure; study of the stress-strain state of the model based on the variational-difference finite element method; formation of a system of linear algebraic equations for solving the problem of analyzing the elastic properties of a material using the plane problem of the theory of elasticity; construction of the material yield surface for a series of tests based on the strength criteria of composite materials, taking into account the different resistance of the material under tensile and compressive loads. Based on the developed mathematical model, the SSS and the yield surface of the plate with a hole are estimated. Structural analysis is performed at the macro and micro levels. The occurrence of plastic deformations at the micro-level can lead to the development of cracks and structural damage at the macro level. As a result of the study, the probability of plastic deformation in the plate is determined, and the critical zones of the model are established. The practical significance of the results obtained is to create an approach to assessing the mechanical properties of a material, such as elastic modulus, shear modulus, Poisson's ratio, and their probabilistic characteristics following the internal material structure. The proposed approach contributes to the expansion of knowledge about the material and allows to increase the valuable information obtained by modeling. To assess the probability of plastic deformations, the generated method uses the entire set of probabilistic characteristics of the yield surface.

Quicklime is an essential reducing agent in the steel smelting process and its calcination from limestone is accompanied by considerable energy consumption. As a relatively economical lime kiln, the Parallel Flow Regenerative (PFR) lime kiln is used as the main equipment for the production of quicklime by various steel industries. PFR lime kilns generally use natural gas as the fuel gas. Although natural gas has a high calorific value and is effective in calcination, with the increasing price of natural gas and the pressure saves energy and protect the environment, it makes sense of exploring the use of cleaner energy sources or other sub-products as fuel gas. The use of blast furnace gas (BFG) as a low calorific value fuel gas produced in the steel smelting process has been of interest. This paper therefore develops a set of mathematical models for gas-solid heat transfer and limestone decomposition based on a Porous Medium Model (PMM) and a Shrinking Core Model (SCM) to numerically simulate a PFR lime kiln using BFG in order to investigate the feasibility of calcining limestone with low calorific fuel gas and to provide a valuable reference for future development of such processes and the kiln structure improvement.

Quicklime is an essential reducing agent in the steel smelting process and its calcination from limestone is accompanied by considerable energy consumption. As a relatively economical lime kiln, the Parallel Flow Regenerative (PFR) lime kiln is used as the main equipment for the production of quicklime by various steel industries. PFR lime kilns generally use natural gas as the fuel gas. Although natural gas has a high calorific value and is effective in calcination, with the increasing price of natural gas and the pressure saves energy and protect the environment, it makes sense of exploring the use of cleaner energy sources or other sub-products as fuel gas. The use of blast furnace gas (BFG) as a low calorific value fuel gas produced in the steel smelting process has been of interest. This paper therefore develops a set of mathematical models for gas-solid heat transfer and limestone decomposition based on a Porous Medium Model (PMM) and a Shrinking Core Model (SCM) to numerically simulate a PFR lime kiln using BFG in order to investigate the feasibility of calcining limestone with low calorific fuel gas and to provide a valuable reference for future development of such processes and the kiln structure improvement.

During wine production, a large amount of waste (grape pomace) is generated, corresponding to about 31.7 kg per 100 L produced. This material is considered a rich source of bioactive compounds and therefore is of interest to several industries. However, grape pomace is susceptible to microbial degradation due to its high moisture content; thus, drying is frequently considered to be an essential process for grape pomace conservation and stabilization. Drying allows for a better conservation, easier storage due to the lower volume and improves product stability. However, drying conditions such as temperature and time may affect grape pomace bioactive potential. As drying requires a high energy consumption, an alternative for reducing the energy costs is the use of intermittent operation—i.e., operating with transient inputs of air conditions, such as the supply temperature. Intermittent drying, in addition to promoting lower energy consumption, also enables less damage to heat-sensitive materials. Thus, in the present work modeling of the drying process of grape skins from red wine grape pomace was performed at temperatures of 40, 55 and 70 °C, for drying in both the conventional and in the intermittent modes with tempering periods of 5 and 10 min. Moreover, total phenolic compounds, total flavonoids and antioxidant activity (DPPH and reducing power assays) were determined by spectrophotometric methods before and after the drying process at the proposed conditions. Modeling results for conventional operation showed that, among the eight models tested for the conventional drying, the one that best suited the experimental data was the approximation of diffusion model. For the intermittent drying operation, equations were deduced based on mass and energy balance that led to a fit with a maximum global deviation of 10% in comparison to experimental data. After extracting the same amount of sample (fresh and after different drying processes) with hydroethanolic solution (80%, v/v), results expressed in dry basis of grape pomace samples showed that conventional drying had the highest impact on lowering the content of bioactive compounds and antioxidant activity. Among the drying conditions assayed, the one that allowed the highest amounts of bioactive compounds to be maintained was the 5 min tempering period performed at 40 °C, corresponding to losses of 20.6% and 14.5% for total phenolic compounds and total flavonoids, respectively, when compared to the grape pomace sample before drying (162 mg gallic acid equivalents/g pomace, dry weight and 82 mg catechin equivalents/g pomace, d.w.). The present work showed that intermittent drying can provide grape pomace samples with higher contents of bioactive compounds and higher antioxidant activity when compared to conventional drying performed at the same temperature. Moreover, it provided information regarding the application of mathematical modeling to grape pomace drying, showing that these models can be applied to drying optimization studies.

Polymer waste of light industry and other industries is processed by chemical recycling and mechanical grinding. Modern equipment for polymer waste processing has the following drawbacks: significant energy consumption and reduced performance properties of recycled polymer. New technological processes and equipment for polymer waste recycling have been developed for the manufacture of light industry polymer products with increased performance characteristics. The manufacturing of such products was made possible by the development of the mathematical model, which describes the movement of a mixture of main polymer material and particles of recycled polymer waste in the process of filling a mold cavity. The model, in contrast to the existing models, allows observing the formation of the polymer product structure containing recycled waste particles. Improvement in the performance characteristics of shoe soles made by the injection molding of a mixture of polyvinylchloride and particles of recycled polyvinylchloride was confirmed by experimental tests of breaking strength and fatigue life. The results of these tests can be used in the design of processing equipment to obtain waste particles of the required shape and size and in the design of molds to provide the required concentration and orientation of waste particles in light industry polymer products.

The electrification of vehicles from the automotive and public transport industries can reduce harmful emissions if implemented correctly, but there is little evidence of whether the electrification of heavy freight transportation vehicles (HFTVs), such as multi-articulated vehicles, used in the freight industry could see the same benefits. This work studied heavy multi-articulated freight vehicles and developed a comparative analysis between electric and conventional diesel power trains to reduce their total emissions. Real-world drive cycle data were obtained from a heavy multi-articulated freight vehicle operating around Melbourne, Australia, with a gross combination mass (GCM) of up to 66,000 kg. Numerical models of the case study freight vehicle were then simulated with diesel, through-the-road parallel (TTRP) hybrid and electric power trains over the five different drive cycles with fuel and energy consumption results quantified. Battery weights were added on top of the real-world operating GCMs to assure the operational payload did not have to be reduced to accommodate the addition of electric power trains. The fuel and energy consumptions were then used to estimate the real-world emissions and compared. The results showed a positive reduction in tailpipe emissions, but total greenhouse emission was worse for operation in Melbourne if batteries were charged off the grid. However, if Melbourne can move towards more renewable energy and change its emission factor for generating electricity down to 0.49 kg CO2-e/kWh, a strong decarbonization could be possible for the Australian road freight industry and could help meet emission reduction targets set out in the 2015 Paris Agreement.

Abstract: In present times many industries are giving more importance in reducing the overall cost of production and in this regard reduction in weight of the work material has become necessary which in turn reduces the power consumption required for machining and hence leads to reduction in overall costs. Thus usage of light weight materials has garnered deep interest in the industries. This project deals with the turning of Mg AZ31B alloy for the above stated reasons. The objective of this work is to optimize the influencing cutting parameters like speed, feed, depth of cut and approach angle of the cutting tool by using experimental engineering design techniques like Taguchi method of orthogonal array, analysis of variance method to compute contribution of each of these parameters on the quality of machined output. The response variables taken up for this analysis were surface roughness, material removal rate, tool wear rate and machining time as all these factors governs the quality of the machined product and hence relates to economics of machining. Regression models have been developed in order to study about the mathematical relation between the input cutting parameters and each of the output variables. Contour plots have been drawn to study about interactions between the input cutting parameters and its impact on the output variables. In order to study the effect of cryogenic soaking on the work specimen Vickers hardness test has been performed to check the enhancement of the hardness before and after cryogenic soaking. The experimental data shows that surface roughness is mostly affected by approach angle of the cutting tool whereas material removal rate, tool wear rate and machining time were mostly affected by depth of cut. From the confirmatory test it was evident that Taguchi analysis helps in optimizing the output variables. It was also observed that cryogenic soaking suitably increases the hardness of the material thus making it more machinable. Keywords: Economical Machining, Optimization, Taguchi method, CNC Turning, Mg AZ31B, Regression Modelling, Contour plots, Cryogenic Soaking.

Reducing by grinding the size of various materials as raw materials for its further use is an urgent applied task. The requirements for the final product obtained by fine grinding are its homogeneity in shape and size of individual parts. It is necessary to reduce the time of the grinding operation, reduce energy consumption to obtain a unit of product of the required quality. One way to solve the problem is to use high-tech universal equipment, namely mills for fine grinding of materials. One way to solve the given problem is to use high-tech universal equipment, namely mills for fine grinding of materials. Their optimal design, construction, manufacture and operation are ensured by studying their dynamics at the stage of their development. In particular, such a study of the dynamics can be carried out on the basis of previously created mathematical models of these mills. The use of computer technology and appropriate mathematical CAD systems will speed up and optimize the process of studying the dynamics of the corresponding mill of fine grinding of materials. The purpose of the research is to build a mathematical nonlinear parameterized model of vibrating mill with two drives for bulk materials fine grinding for further study on its basis the dynamics of the mill with the development of optimal designs for mills with similar structure and the principle of operation and selection of optimal modes of operation. The mathematical model is presented as a system of expressions describing the of the mill points motion, which will include in the form of symbolic symbols all its parameters (kinematic, geometric, dynamic, force). This model is constructed using the Lagrange equation of the second kind and asymptotic methods of nonlinear mechanics. The mathematical model for studying of the dynamics of vibration mill with two drives for bulk materials fine grinding is nonlinear and universal. The non linearity of the model makes it possible to adequately determine of the above parameters influence on the amplitude of oscillations of the mill working chamber as the main factor in the intensity in the technological process of the fine grinding bulk materials fine grinding. The possibility of a wide range of changes in the parameters of the mill in the obtained models makes it universal based on the possibility of application for the study of dynamic processes in vibrating mills of different types with two or one drive which are different by shape, size, location of the suspension and more. This model can also be used to develop optimal designs for vibrating mills for different industries, which will be used to grind different types of materials in different volumes and productivity.

AbstractThe global thermal spray coatings market was valued at USD 10.1 billion in 2019 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 3.9% from 2020 to 2027. Carbide coatings form an essential segment of this market and provide cost-effective and environmental friendly tribological solutions for applications in aerospace, industrial gas turbine, automotive, printing, oil and gas, steel, and pulp and paper industries. Almost 23% of the world’s total energy consumption originates from tribological contacts. Thermal spray WC-Co coatings provide excellent wear resistance for industrial applications in sliding and rolling contacts. Some of these applications in abrasive, sliding and erosive conditions include sink rolls in zinc pots, conveyor screws, pump housings, impeller shafts, aircraft flap tracks, cam followers and expansion joints. These coatings are considered as a replacement of the hazardous chrome plating for tribological applications. The microstructure of thermal spray coatings is however complex, and the wear mechanisms and wear rates vary significantly when compared to cemented WC-Co carbides or vapour deposition WC coatings. This paper provides an expert review of the tribological considerations that dictate the sliding wear performance of thermal spray WC-Co coatings. Structure–property relationships and failure modes are discussed to grasp the design aspects of WC-Co coatings for tribological applications. Recent developments of suspension sprayed nanocomposite coatings are compared with conventional coatings in terms of performance and failure mechanisms. The dependency of coating microstructure, binder material, carbide size, fracture toughness, post-treatment and hardness on sliding wear performance and test methodology is discussed. Semiempirical mathematical models of wear rate related to the influence of tribological test conditions and coating characteristics are analysed for sliding contacts. Finally, advances for numerical modelling of sliding wear rate are discussed.

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to develop a detailed descriptive model for kitting operations, allowing resources sizing and computation of systems’ economic performances. Design/methodology/approach – A mathematical model allows to size resources, given product characteristics and production mix, and determines total system costs by assessing relevant cost items including investment costs (vehicles, containers, storage racks), direct operating costs (transport and kitting workforce, vehicles energy consumption and maintenance, quality costs), indirect operating costs (space requirements, work in process (WIP) and safety stock holding costs, administration and control). Findings – The choice of parts delivery supply to assembly lines requires a thorough economic comparison of alternatives. However, existing models are often simplistic and neglect many critical factors which affect the systems’ performances. As a consequence, industries are unsure about which system is best for their environment. This model allows assessment of the cost and suitability of kitting in any specific industrial setting. Results of the model application are case-specific and cannot be generalized, but the major impact of labour and error correction cost has been highlighted. Research limitations/implications – The model at present focusses on the in-house kitting systems based on travelling kits concept only. Although all quantitative cost drivers are included, some context-related qualitative decision factors are not yet included. The model assumes that the information about product structure and part requirements is known and that a preliminary design of the assembly system (i.e. line balancing) has been carried out. Practical implications – Production managers are given a quantitative decision tool to properly assess the implementation of kitting policies at an early decision stage. This allows exploring the trade-offs between the alternatives and properly planning the adoption of kitting systems, as well as comparing kitting with alternative material supply methods. Originality/value – With respect to previous simplified literature models, this new approach allows quantification of a number of additional factors which are critical for successful implementation of cost-effective kitting systems, including kitting errors. An exhaustive cost estimation of kitting systems in multiple, mixed-model assembly lines is thus permitted.

A power plant converts energy from a non-electric form to an electric one. Depending on the energy conversion, power plants are classified as minerals, nuclear, solar, geothermal, hydroelectric, and so on. The main goal is to perform this transformation as best as possible. Criteria of safety, efficiency, reliability and affordability are taken into account as benchmarks. The station consists of several units that generate and work together to meet electricity needs. For a fossil fuel power plant, each unit consists of three main components: a boiler, a turbine and a generator. The complexity of the operation is due to the variability of the load and high efficiency required in a wide range of operations. The main difficulties for the management task then arise due to the strong link between process variables and process nonlinearity. The purpose of this article is to analyze and develop a proposal for the introduction of artificial intelligence in the power industry of Ukraine. To achieve this goal, we will offer the following tasks: - analyze existing systems for the use of artificial intelligence in industry; - develop proposals for the introduction of artificial intelligence in the electricity system of Ukraine. In this study, methods of statistical, factorial, historical, comparative, logical, economic-mathematical and systems analysis, the method of expert assessments were used, which allowed to formulate proposals for the introduction of artificial intelligence in the power industry. Artificial neural networks are the first step towards a fundamentally new system of information analysis. They are mathematical and computer models that simulate the work of biological neurons, ie a system of interacting processes, built on the principle of connecting nerve cells of the human brain. It should be noted that they differ from conventional machine algorithms in the ability to learn, memorize and reproduce images, determine patterns, memorize and analyze information and obtain results. Output signals that arrive at the next processor and continue to be converted. Thus, artificial neurons form networks and layers in which connections are created, restored, maintained and destroyed by special signals. With regard to artificial intelligence, there is no generally accepted definition of artificial intelligence, therefore, by artificial intelligence we mean a machine system capable of learning using objective knowledge and experience, to solve creative problems like the human brain and inventive tasks, not going through options, build strategies and apply abstract concepts. Digitalization and artificial intelligence are penetrating most sectors of the economy, including the electricity sector. The digitalization of energy requires the development and widespread use of end-to-end technologies, including industrial Internet, components of robotics, wireless communications, artificial intelligence and others. Thus, artificial intelligence technologies have prospects for development. Of course, significant targeted funding is needed to achieve significant results. The interaction of research institutes and universities with business is very important, where artificial intelligence technologies are also being developed. Attention of the authorities and society, their understanding of the importance of the tasks facing countries to achieve the goal of implementing artificial intelligence. With regard to electricity, the integration of artificial intelligence into the industry will help optimize and increase efficiency in all aspects of energy production, transmission and consumption. It should be noted that the development of electricity is a step towards the development of other industries. That is why the transition to the digital industry is impossible without the digitalization and intellectualization of the power industry

Введение. Пандемия кардинально изменила мир и поведение людей. Удаленная работа, дематериализация потребления, снижение мобильности, социальное дистанцирование. Многие процессы, наступление которых ожидалось только через несколько лет, произошли за считанные месяцы. 2020 год стал тяжелым периодом для бизнеса и мировой экономики в целом. Под влиянием кризиса компании принимали комплексные решения по оптимизации существующих бизнес-моделей. Теперь бизнес пересматривает свои инвестиционные стратегии и социальные программы в регионах присутствия, ориентируясь на цели устойчивого развития и национальные цели развития. Пандемия втолкнула мир в реку трансформации и структурных изменений. Экономика должна максимально оперативно подстроиться под новые условия. Индустрии, связанные с цифровизацией привычных для оффлайна сфер экономики, растут на десятки, а некоторые на сотни процентов год к году, в то время как традиционная экономика входит в рецессию. Параллельно эксперты сходятся во мнении, что сейчас наблюдается профицит денег на рынках капитала. Вместе это становится благоприятным временем для запуска новых бизнес-идей и для выхода на IPO уже сложивших стартапов. Данные и методы. Основные методы исследования - теоретические и практические методы, с помощью которых проводилось исследование: методы системного анализа, экономико-математические методы анализа информации, методы экспертных оценок, моделирования. Полученные результаты. В статье освещены ключевые аспекты трансформации инновационных компаний в цифровую эпоху в виде ряда глобальных мегатрендов, определяющих образ будущего: цифровой трансформации, увеличения неравенства, роста государственного и корпоративного долга, ускорения и усложнения бизнес-процессов, развития зеленой энергетики. Показано, как пандемия повлияла на основные мегатренды: технологические, экономические, социальные, политические; как ускорение цифровизации из-за пандемии и карантинов изменит нашу жизнь и профессиональную деятельность. Заключение. Представленные разработки позволяют сформировать ряд рекомендаций по стимулированию инновационного развития инновационных компаний в период и после пандемии. Introduction. The pandemic has radically changed the world and people's behavior. Remote work, dematerialization of consumption, reduced mobility, social distancing. Many processes, the onset of which was expected only in a few years, occurred in a matter of months. The year 2020 was a difficult period for business and the global economy as a whole. Under the influence of the crisis, companies made complex decisions to optimize existing business models. Now the business is reviewing its investment strategies and social programs in the regions of its presence, focusing on the goals of sustainable development and national development goals. The pandemic has pushed the world into a river of transformation and structural change. The economy should adapt to the new conditions as quickly as possible. Industries associated with the digitalization of the usual offline areas of the economy are growing by tens, and some by hundreds of percent year-on-year, while the traditional economy is entering a recession. At the same time, experts agree that there is now a surplus of money in the capital markets. Together, this becomes a favorable time for launching new business ideas, and for entering the IPO of already established startups. Data and methods. The main research methods are theoretical and practical methods used to conduct the research: methods of system analysis, economic and mathematical methods of information analysis, methods of expert assessments, modeling. The results obtained. The article highlights the key aspects of the transformation of innovative companies in the digital era in the form of a number of global mega-trends that determine the image of the future: digital transformation, increasing inequality, growth of public and corporate debt, acceleration and complication of business processes, development of green energy. It shows how the pandemic has affected the main mega-trends: technological, economic, social, political; how the acceleration of digitalization due to the pandemic and quarantines will change our lives and professional activities. Conclusion. The presented developments allow us to form a number of recommendations for stimulating the innovative development of innovative companies during and after the pandemic.

Introduction. The constant increase in the consumption of mineral resources leads to the depletion of available reserves and a sharp increase in the depth of field development. In addition, reserves that were previously classified as off-balance sheet and the development of which is economically inefficient at the time of the assessment of technical and economic calculations are involved in the development of minerals: low metal content; location within water protection zones, settlements, structures, agricultural facilities, nature reserves, monuments of nature, history and culture. Involvement in the development of areas of deposits with a low content of a useful component in ore increases the costs of extraction, transportation and processing, as well as the formation of more man-made waste. The main way to ensure the sustainable development of the mining region is the use of mineral deposit development systems with a hardening bookmark and the involvement of man-made waste in a closed production cycle. The use of geotechnology with a bookmark helps to increase the completeness and quality of the extraction of reserves of the deposit, protects the hydrogeological regime and reduces the degree of crack development in the underworked array, which leads to the preservation of the water-proof thickness and protects the daytime surface from collapse. Geotechnology with a bookmark allows you to work out previously abandoned targets, which increases the mineral resource base of the mining enterprise and increases the life of the mine and allows you to solve the social issue of the region where the mining enterprise is the city-forming. The use of man-made waste from mining and processing and metallurgical enterprises in the preparation of the laying composite leads to their disposal. Utilization of man-made waste with geotechnology with a bookmark leads to a decrease in the volume of man-made storage facilities, which reduces the cost of their creation and maintenance. All this contributes to the implementation of the concept of waste-free production, the integrated development of natural and man-made resources, the sustainable development of the mining region and the reduction of the impact of mining and metallurgical industries on the environment. Purpose of research. Introduction of technologies that ensure the completeness of mineral extraction and safe mining operations with minimal environmental impact. Research methods. G eneralization of theoretical and experimental studies carried out by scientists in this field, synthesis of literary and patent data, analysis and summary of previously performed own research, comparison of theoretical calculation data on mathematical models with the experimental results obtained, application of current state standards, approved research methodology, use of calibrated and serviceable equipment. Materials were activated in a DESI-11 laboratory disintegrator, compression samples were tested on a PI-2000-A test press, and the reliability was confirmed by the repeatability of the results with a sufficient number of experiments. Research results. The possibility of replacing the traditional components of the laying composite with man-made waste without loss of regulatory characteristics and improvement of its rheological properties is substantiated. The necessity of applying mechanical activation treatment of the components of the laying composite in order to improve its rheological characteristics and the strength of the array after solidification is proved. The demand for resource-reproducing technologies that allow the most complete use of the technogenic mineral resource potential of the mining and processing enterprise, which will lead to a multiplicative ecological and economic effect, has been confirmed. It is established that the sustainable development of the mining and processing region is impossible without highly efficient exploitation of natural deposits and man-made geo-resources in combination with an integrated approach to the development of the subsoil. Conclusions. The level of impact of the mining and processing enterprise on the ecological situation of the region is reduced by involving man-made waste in a closed production cycle. Increasing the efficiency of the enterprise is achieved through the introduction of resource-reproducing technologies. The sustainable development of the mining region is ensured by switching to the innovative principle of production organization, which excludes the formation of waste and predetermines the use of intermediate products (man-made waste) in cyclic production.

Rapid urbanization rates impact significantly on the nature of Land Cover patterns of the environment, which has been evident in the depletion of vegetal reserves and in general modifying the human climatic systems (Henderson, et al., 2017; Kumar, Masago, Mishra, & Fukushi, 2018; Luo and Lau, 2017). This study explores remote sensing classification technique and other auxiliary data to determine LULCC for a period of 50 years (1967-2016). The LULCC types identified were quantitatively evaluated using the change detection approach from results of maximum likelihood classification algorithm in GIS. Accuracy assessment results were evaluated and found to be between 56 to 98 percent of the LULC classification. The change detection analysis revealed change in the LULC types in Minna from 1976 to 2016. Built-up area increases from 74.82ha in 1976 to 116.58ha in 2016. Farmlands increased from 2.23 ha to 46.45ha and bared surface increases from 120.00ha to 161.31ha between 1976 to 2016 resulting to decline in vegetation, water body, and wetlands. The Decade of rapid urbanization was found to coincide with the period of increased Public Private Partnership Agreement (PPPA). Increase in farmlands was due to the adoption of urban agriculture which has influence on food security and the environmental sustainability. The observed increase in built up areas, farmlands and bare surfaces has substantially led to reduction in vegetation and water bodies. The oscillatory nature of water bodies LULCC which was not particularly consistent with the rates of urbanization also suggests that beyond the urbanization process, other factors may influence the LULCC of water bodies in urban settlements. Keywords: Minna, Niger State, Remote Sensing, Land Surface Characteristics References Akinrinmade, A., Ibrahim, K., & Abdurrahman, A. (2012). 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AbstractOver the past few decades, steelmaking has reached its zenith in terms of annual productivity, and relevant processes have been developed over time to produce steel with maximum efficiency in a shorter time. One of the prominent steelmaking practices used extensively in contemporary industries is the Conarc Steelmaking Practice, which involves the use of electrical and chemical Energy to carry out melting and decarburization in respective shells. This article reviews the factors that affect the energy consumption in Conarc furnaces and provides insight into the technologies developed to alleviate energy consumption and make the steelmaking process optimal in terms of energy consumption and requirement. This article also accentuates relevant systems and melting practices for the raw materials, which can be utilized in the Conarc Steelmaking practice to make the entire process less energy-intensive. Oxygen-enhanced combustion and thermophotovoltaic systems can alleviate energy consumption substantially while maintaining steel quality at the same time, as discussed in the paper. Additionally, some mathematical models have been discussed that facilitate in formulating an energy optimal and financial steelmaking process.

In recent years ecological thinking has been applied to a range of social, cultural, and aesthetic systems, including performing arts as a living system of policy makers, producers, organisations, artists, and audiences. Ecological thinking is systems-based thinking which allows us to see the performing arts as a complex and protean ecosystem; to explain how elements in this system act and interact; and to evaluate its effects on Australia’s social fabric over time. According to Gallasch, ecological thinking is “what we desperately need for the arts.” It enables us to “defeat the fragmentary and utilitarian view of the arts that dominates, to make connections, to establish overviews of the arts that can be shared and debated” (Gallasch NP). The ecological metaphor has featured in debates about the performing arts in Brisbane, Australia, in the last two or three years. A growing state capital on Australia’s eastern seaboard, Brisbane is proud of its performing arts culture. Its main theatre organisations include the state flagship Queensland Theatre Company; the second major presenter of adapted and new text-based performances La Boite Theatre Company; venues which support local and touring performances such as the Judith Wright Centre for Contemporary Arts and the Brisbane Powerhouse; emerging talent incubator Metro Arts; indigenous companies like Kooemba Jdarra; independent physical theatre and circus companies such as Zen Zen Zo and Circa; and contemporary play-producing company 23rd Productions (cf. Baylis 3). Brisbane aspires to be a cultural capital in Australia, Australasia, and the Asia Pacific (Gill). Compared to Australia’s southern capitals Sydney and Melbourne, however, Brisbane does have a relatively low level of performing arts activity across traditional and contemporary theatre, contemporary performance, musicals, circus, and other genres of performance. It has at times been cast as a piecemeal, potentially unsustainable arts centre prone to losing talent to other states. In 2009, John Baylis took up these issues in Mapping Queensland Theatre, an Arts Queensland-funded survey designed to map practices in Brisbane and in Queensland more broadly, and to provide a platform to support future policy-making. This report excited debate amongst artists who, whilst accepting the tenor of Baylis’s criticisms, also lamented the lack of nuanced detail and contextualised relationships its map of Queensland theatre provided. In this paper we propose a new approach to mapping Brisbane’s and Queensland’s theatre that extends Baylis’s “value chain” into a “value ecology” that provides a more textured picture of players, patterns, relationships, and activity levels. A “value chain” approach emphasises linear relationships and gaps between production, distribution, and consumption in a specific sector of the economy. A “value ecology” approach goes further by examining a complex range of rhizomatic relationships between production, distribution, and consumption infrastructure and how they influence each other within a sector of the economy such as the performing arts. Our approach uses a “value ecology” model adapted from Hearn et al. and Cherbo et al. to map and interpret information from the AusStage performing arts database, the Australian Bureau of Statistics, and other sources such as previews, reviews, and an ongoing local blogosphere debate. Building upon Baylis’s work, our approach produces literal and conceptual maps of Queensland’s performing arts as they change over time, with analysis of support, infrastructure, and relationships amongst government, arts organisations, artists, and audiences. As debate on Mapping Queensland Theatre gives way to more considered reflection, and as Baylis develops a follow-up report, our approach captures snapshots of Queensland’s performing arts before, during, and after such policy interventions. It supports debate about how Queensland artists might manage their own sustainability, their own ability to balance artistic, cultural, and economic factors that influence their work in a way that allows them to survive long term, and allows policy makers, producers, and other players to better understand, articulate, assess, and address criticisms. The Ecological Metaphor In recent years a number of commentators have understood the performing arts as an “ecology,” a system characterised by interacting elements, engagements, flows, blockages, breaks, and breakthroughs whose “health” (synonymous in this context with sustainability) depends on relationships between players within and without the system. Traditionally, performing arts policies in Australia have concentrated on singular elements in a system. They have, as Hunt and Shaw argue, “concentrate[d] on individual companies or an individual artist’s practice rather than the sector as a whole” (5, cf. 43). The focus has been on how to structure, support, and measure the success—the aesthetic and social benefits—of individual training institutions, artists, administrators, and arts organisations. The “health” of singular elements has been taken as a sign of the “health” of the system. An ecologies approach, by contrast, concentrates on engagements, energies, and flows as signs of health, and thus sustainability, in a system. Ecological thinking enables policy makers, practitioners, and scholars to go beyond debate about the presence of activity, the volume of activity, and the fate of individual agents as signs of the health or non-health of a system. In an ecologies context, level of activity is not the only indicator of health, and low activity does not necessarily equate with instability or unsustainability. An ecological approach is critical in Brisbane, and in Queensland more broadly, where attempts to replicate the nature or level of activity in southern capitals are not necessarily the best way to shore up the “health” of our performing arts system in our own unique environment. As the locus of our study Queensland is unique. While Queensland has 20% of Australia’s population (OESR; ABS ‘ Population Projections’), and is regularly recognised as a rapidly growing “lifestyle superstate” which values innovation, creativity, and cultural infrastructure (Cunningham), it is still home to significantly less than 20% of Australia’s performing arts producers, and many talented people continue to migrate to the south to pursue career opportunities (Baylis 4, 28). An ecologies approach can break into oft-cited anxieties about artist, activity, and audience levels in Brisbane, and in Queensland, and create new ideas about what a “healthy” local performing arts sector might look like. This might start to infuse some of the social media commentary that currently tends to emphasise the gaps in the sector. Ecologies are complex systems. So, as Costanza says, when we consider ecosystem health, we must consider the overall performance of the system, including its ability to deal with “external stress” (240) from macro-level political, legal, social, cultural, economic, or technological currents that change the broader society this particular sector or ecosystem sits within. In Brisbane, there is a growing population and a desire to pursue a cultural capital tag, but the distinctive geographic, demographic, and behavioural characteristics of Brisbane’s population—and the associated ‘stresses’, conditions, or constraints—mean that striving to replicate patterns of activity seen in Sydney or Melbourne may not be the straightest path to a “healthy” or “sustainable” sector here. The attitudes of the players and the pressures influencing the system are different, so this may be like comparing rainforests with deserts (Costanza), and forgetting that different elements and engagements are in fact “healthy” in different ecosystems. From an ecologies point of view, policy makers and practitioners in Brisbane and in Queensland more broadly might be well advised to stop trying to match Sydney or Melbourne, and to instead acknowledge that a “healthy” ecosystem here may look different, and so generate policy, subsidy, and production systems to support this. An ecological approach can help determine how much activity is in fact necessary to ensure a healthy and sustainable local performing arts sector. It can, in other words, provide a fresh approach that inspires new ideas and strategies for sector sustainability. Brisbane, Baylis and the Blogosphere Debate The ecological metaphor has clearly captured the interest of policy makers as they consider how to make Queensland’s performing arts more sustainable and successful. For Arts Queensland: The view of the sector as a complex and interdependent ‘ecosystem’ is forging new thinking, new practices and new business models. Individual practitioners and organisations are rethinking where they sit within the broader ecology, and what they contribute to the health and vitality of the sector, and how they might address the gaps in services and skills (12). This view informed the commissioning of Mapping Queensland Theatre, an assessment of Queensland’s theatre sector which offers a framework for allocation of resources under the Queensland Arts & Cultural Sector Plan 2010-2013. It also offers a framework for negotiation with funded organisations to ensure “their activities and focus support a harmonious ecology” (Baylis 3) in which all types and levels of practice (emerging, established, touring, and so on) are functioning well and are well represented within the overall mix of activities. Utilising primary and secondary survey sources, Mapping Queensland Theatre seeks: to map individuals, institutions, and organisations who have a stake in developing Queensland’s professional theatre sector; and to apply a “value chain” model of production from supply (training, creation, presentation, and distribution) to demand (audiences) to identify problems and gaps in Queensland’s professional theatre sector and recommend actions to address them. The report is critical of the sector. Baylis argues that “the context for great theatre is not yet in place in Queensland … therefore works of outstandingly high quality will be rare” (28).Whilst acknowledging a lack of ready answers about how much activity is required in a vibrant theatre culture, Baylis argues that “comparisons are possible” (27) and he uses various data sets to compare numbers of new Australian productions in different states. He finds that “despite having 20% of the Australian population, [Queensland] generates a dramatically lower amount of theatre activity” (4, cf. 28). The reason, according to Baylis (20, 23, 25, 29, 32, 40-41, 44), is that there are gaps in the “value chain” of Queensland theatre, specifically in: Support for the current wave of emerging and independent artistsSpace for experimentation Connections between artists, companies, venues and festivals, between and within regional centres, and between Queensland companies and their (inter)national peers Professional development for producers to address the issue of market distributionAudience development “Queensland lacks a critical mass of theatre activity to develop a sustainable theatre culture” (48), and the main gap is in pathways for independent artists. Quality new work does not emerge, energy dissipates, and artists move on. The solution, for Baylis, is to increase support for independent companies (especially via co-productions with mainstage companies), to improve (inter)national touring, and to encourage investment in audience development. Naturally, Queensland’s theatre makers responded to this report. Responses were given, for example, in inaugural speeches by new Queensland Theatre Company director Wesley Enoch and new La Boite Theatre Company director David Berthold, in the media, and in blogosphere commentary on a range of articles on Brisbane performing arts in 2010. The blogosphere debate in particular raged for months and warrants more detailed analysis elsewhere. For the purposes of this paper, though, it is sufficient to note that blogosphere debate about the health of Queensland theatre culture acknowledged many of the deficits Baylis identified and called for: More leadershipMore government supportMore venuesMore diversityMore audience, especially for risky work, and better audience engagementMore jobs and retention of artists Whilst these responses endorse Baylis’s findings and companies have since conceived programs that address Baylis’s criticisms (QTC’s introduction of a Studio Season and La Boite’s introduction of an Indie program in 2010 for example) a sense of frustration also emerged. Some, like former QTC Chair Kate Foy, felt that “what’s really needed in the theatre is a discussion that breaks out from the old themes and encourages fresh ideas—approaches to solving whatever problems are perceived to exist in ‘the system’.” For commentators like Foy the blogosphere debate enacted a kind of ritual rehearsal of an all-too-familiar set of concerns: inadequate and ill-deployed funding, insufficient venues, talent drain, and an impoverished local culture of theatre going. “Value Chains” versus “Value Ecologies” Why did responses to this report demand more artists, more arts organisations, more venues, and more activities? Why did they repeat demands for more government-subsidised venues, platforms, and support rather than drive toward new seed- or non- subsidised initiatives? At one level, this is to do with the report’s claims: it is natural for artists who have been told quality work is “rare” amongst them to point to lack of support to achieve success. At another level, though, this is because—as useful as it has been for local theatre makers—Baylis’s map is premised on a linear chain from training, to first productions, to further developed productions (involving established writers, directors, designers and performers), to opportunities to tour (inter)nationally, etc. It provides a linear image of a local performing arts sector in which there are individuals and institutions with potential, but specific gaps in the production-distribution-consumption chain that make it difficult to deliver work to target markets. It emphasises gaps in the linear pathway towards “stability” of financial, venue, and audience support and thus “sustainability” over a whole career for independent artists and the audiences they attract. Accordingly, asking government to plug the gaps through elements added to the system (venues, co-production platforms, producer hubs, subsidy, and entrepreneurial endeavours) seems like a logical solution. Whilst this is true, it does not tell the whole story. To generate a wider story, we need to consider: What the expected elements in a “healthy” ecosystem would be (e.g. more versus alternative activity);What other aesthetic, cultural, or economic pressures affect the “health” of an ecosystem;Why practices might need to cycle, ebb, and flow over time in a “healthy” ecosystem. A look at the way La Boite works before, during, and after Baylis’s analysis of Brisbane theatre illustrates why attention to these elements is necessary. A long-running company which has made the transition from amateur to professional to being a primary developer of new Australian work in its distinctive in-the-round space, La Boite has recently shifted its strategic position. A focus on text-based Australian plays has given way to adapted, contemporary, and new work in a range of genres; regular co-productions with companies in Brisbane and beyond; and an “Indie” program that offers other companies a venue. This could be read as a response to Baylis’s recommendation: the production-distribution-consumption chain gap for Brisbane’s independents is plugged, the problem is solved, the recommendation has led to the desired result. Such a reading might, though, overlook the range of pressures beyond Brisbane, beyond Queensland, and beyond the Baylis report that drive—and thus help, hinder, or otherwise effect—the shift in La Boite’s program strategies. The fact that La Boite recently lost its Australia Council funding, or that La Boite like all theatre companies needs co-productions to keep its venue running as costs increase, or that La Boite has rebranded to appeal to younger audiences interested in postdramatic, do-it-your-self or junkyard style aesthetics. These factors all influence what La Boite might do to sustain itself, and more importantly, what its long-term impact on Brisbane’s theatre ecology will be. To grasp what is happening here, and get beyond repetitive responses to anxieties about Brisbane’s theatre ecology, detail is required not simply on whether programs like La Boite’s “plugged the gap” for independent artists, but on how they had both predicted and unpredicted effects, and how other factors influenced the effects. What is needed is to extend mapping from a “value chain” to a full ”value ecology”? This is something Hearn et al. have called for. A value chain suggests a “single linear process with one stage leading to the next” (5). It ignores the environment and other external enablers and disregards a product’s relationship to other systems or products. In response they prefer a “value creating ecology” in which the “constellation of firms are [sic] dynamic and value flow is multi-directional and works through clusters of networks” (6). Whilst Hearn et al. emphasise “firms” or companies in their value creating ecology, a range of elements—government, arts organisations, artists, audiences, and the media as well as the aesthetic, social, and economic forces that influence them—needs to be mapped in the value creating ecology of the performing arts. Cherbo et al. provide a system of elements or components which, adapted for a local context like Brisbane or Queensland, can better form the basis of a value ecology approach to the way a specific performing arts community works, adapts, changes, breaks down, or breaks through over time. Figure 1 – Performing Arts Sector Map (adapted from Cherbo et. al. 14) Here, the performing arts sector is understood in terms of core artistic workers, companies, a constellation of generic and sector specific support systems, and wider social contexts (Cherbo et al. 15). Together, the shift from “value chain” to “value ecology” that Hearn et al. advocate, and the constellation of ecology elements that Cherbo et al. emphasise, bring a more detailed, dynamic range of relations into play. These include “upstream” production infrastructure (education, suppliers, sponsors), “downstream” distribution infrastructure (venues, outlets, agents), and overall public infrastructure. As a framework for mapping “value ecology” this model offers a more nuanced perspective on production, distribution, and consumption elements in an ecology. It allows for analysis of impact of interventions in dozens of different areas, from dozens of perspectives, and thus provides a more detailed picture of players, relationships, and results to support both practice and policy making around practice. An Aus-e-Stage Value Ecology To provide the more detailed, dynamic image of local theatre culture that a value ecology approach demands—to show players, relations between players, and context in all their complexity—we use the Aus-e-Stage Mapping Service, an online application that maps data about artists, arts organisations, and audiences across cityscapes/landscapes. We use Aus-e-Stage with data drawn from three sources: the AusStage database of over 50,000 entries on Australian performing arts venues, productions, artists, and reviews; the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data on population; and the Local Government Area (LGA) maps the ABS uses to cluster populations. Figure 2 – Using AusStage Interface Figure 3 – AusStage data on theatre venues laid over ABS Local Government Area Map Figure 4 – Using Aus-e-Stage / AusStage to zoom in on Australia, Queensland, Brisbane and La Boite Theatre Company, and generate a list of productions, dates and details Aus-e-Stage produces not just single maps, but a sequential series of snapshots of production ecologies, which visually track who does what when, where, with whom, and for whom. Its sequences can show: The way artists, companies, venues, and audiences relate to each other;The way artists’ relationship to companies, venues, and audiences changes over time;The way “external stressors” changes such as policy, industrial, or population changes affect the elements, roles, and relationships in the ecology from that point forward. Though it can be used in combination with other data sources such as interviews, the advantage of AusStage data is that maps of moving ecologies of practice are based not on descriptions coloured by memory but clear, accurate program, preview, and review data. This allows it to show how factors in the environment—population, policy, infrastructure, or program shifts—effect the ecology, effect players in the ecology, and prompt players to adapt their type, level, or intensity of practice. It extends Baylis’s value chain into a full value ecology that shows the detail on how an ecology works, going beyond demands that government plug perceived gaps and moving towards data- and history- based decisions, ideas and innovation based on what works in Brisbane’s performing arts ecology. Our Aus-e-Stage mapping shows this approach can do a number of useful things. It can create sequences showing breaks, blockages, and absences in an individual or company’s effort to move from emerging to established (e.g. in a sudden burst of activity followed by nothing). It can create sequences showing an individual or company’s moves to other parts of Australia (e.g. to tour or to pursue more permanent work). It can show surprising spaces, relations, and sources of support artists use to further their career (e.g. use of an amateur theatre outside the city such as Brisbane Arts Theatre). It can capture data about venues, programs, or co-production networks that are more or less effective in opening up new opportunities for artists (e.g. moving small-scale experiments in Metro Arts’ “Independents” program to full scale independent productions in La Boite’s “Indie” program, its mainstage program, other mainstage programs, and beyond). It can link to program information, documentation, or commentary to compare anticipated and actual effects. It can lay the map dates and movements across significant policy, infrastructure, or production climate shifts. In the example below, for instance, Aus-e-Stage represents the tour of La Boite’s popular production of a new Australian work Zig Zag Street, based on the Brisbane-focused novel by Nick Earls about a single, twentysomething man’s struggles with life, love, and work. Figure 5 – Zig Zag Street Tour Map In the example below, Aus-e-Stage represents the movements not of a play but of a performer—in this case Christopher Sommers—who has been able to balance employment with new work incubator Metro Arts, mainstage and indie producer La Boite, and stage theatre company QTC with his role with independent theatre company 23rd Productions to create something more protean, more portfolio-based or boundary-less than a traditional linear career trajectory. Figure 6 – Christopher Sommers Network Map and Travel Map This value of this approach, and this technology, is clear. Which independents participate in La Boite Indie (or QTC’s “Studio” or “Greenroom” new work programs, or Metro’s emerging work programs, or others)? What benefits does it bring for artists, for independent companies, or for mainstage companies like La Boite? Is this a launching pad leading to ongoing, sustainable production practices? What do artists, audiences or others say about these launching pads in previews, programs, or reviews? Using Aus-e-Stage as part of a value ecology approach answers these questions. It provides a more detailed picture of what happens, what effect it has on local theatre ecology, and exactly which influences enabled this effect: precisely the data needed to generate informed debate, ideas, and decision making. Conclusion Our ecological approach provides images of a local performing arts ecology in action, drawing out filtered data on different players, relationships, and influencing factors, and thus extending examination of Brisbane’s and Queensland’s performing arts sector into useful new areas. It offers three main advances—first, it adopts a value ecology approach (Hearn et al.), second, it adapts this value ecology approach to include not just companies by all up- and down- stream players, supporters and infrastructure (Cherbo et. al.), and, thirdly, it uses the wealth of data available via Aus-e-Stage maps to fill out and filter images of local theatre ecology. It allows us to develop detailed, meaningful data to support discussion, debate, and development of ideas that is less likely to get bogged down in old, outdated, or inaccurate assumptions about how the sector works. Indeed, our data lends itself to additional analysis in a number of ways, from economic analysis of how shifts in policy influence productivity to sociological analysis of the way practitioners or practices acquire status and cultural capital (Bourdieu) in the field. Whilst descriptions offered here demonstrate the potential of this approach, this is by no means a finished exercise. Indeed, because this approach is about analysing how elements, roles, and relationships in an ecology shift over time, it is an ever-unfinished exercise. As Fortin and Dale argue, ecological studies of this sort are necessarily iterative, with each iteration providing new insights and raising further questions into processes and patterns (3). Given the number of local performing arts producers who have changed their practices significantly since Baylis’s Mapping Queensland Theatre report, and the fact that Baylis is producing a follow-up report, the next step will be to use this approach and the Aus-e-Stage technology that supports it to trace how ongoing shifts impact on Brisbane’s ambitions to become a cultural capital. This process is underway, and promises to open still more new perspectives by understanding anxieties about local theatre culture in terms of ecologies and exploring them cartographically. References Arts Queensland. Queensland Arts & Cultural Sector Plan 2010-2013. Brisbane: Arts Queensland, 2010. Australian Bureau of Statistics. “Population Projections, Australia, 2006 to 2101.” Canberra: ABS (2008). 20 June 2011 ‹http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/3222.0Main+Features12006%20to%202101?OpenDocument›. ——-. “Regional Population Growth, Australia, 2008-2009: Queensland.” Canberra: ABS (2010). 20 June 2011 ‹http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/3218.0Main%20Features62008-09?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=3218.0&issue=2008-09&num=&view=›. Baylis, John. Mapping Queensland Theatre. Brisbane: Arts Queensland, 2009. Bourdieu, Pierre. “The Forms of Capital.” Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education. Ed. John G. Richardson. New York: Greenwood, 1986.241-58. Cherbo, Joni M., Harold Vogel, and Margaret Jane Wyszomirski. “Towards an Arts and Creative Sector.” Understanding the Arts and Creative Sector in the United States. Ed. Joni M. Cherbo, Ruth A. Stewart and Margaret J. Wyszomirski. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2008. 32-60. Costanza, Robert. “Toward an Operational Definition of Ecosystem Health”. Ecosystem Health: New Goals for Environmental Management. Eds. Robert Costanza, Bryan G. Norton and Benjamin D. Haskell. Washington: Island Press, 1992. 239-56. Cunningham, Stuart. “Keeping Artistic Tempers Balanced.” The Courier Mail, 4 August (2010). 20 June 2012 ‹http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/opinion/keeping-artistic-tempers-balanced/story-e6frerc6-1225901295328›. Gallasch, Keith. “The ABC and the Arts: The Arts Ecologically.” RealTime 61 (2004). 20 June 2011 ‹http://www.realtimearts.net/article/61/7436›. Gill, Raymond. “Is Brisbane Australia’s New Cultural Capital?” Sydney Morning Herald, 16 October (2010). 20 June 2011 ‹http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/is-brisbane-australias-new-cultural-capital-20101015-16np5.html›. Fortin, Marie-Josée and Dale, Mark R.T. Spatial Analysis: A Guide for Ecologists. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. Foy, Kate. “Is There Anything Right with the Theatre?” Groundling. 10 January (2010). 20 June 2011 ‹http://katefoy.com/2010/01/is-there-anything-right-with-the-theatre/›. Hearn, Gregory N., Simon C. Roodhouse, and Julie M. Blakey. ‘From Value Chain to Value Creating Ecology: Implications for Creative Industries Development Policy.’ International Journal of Cultural Policy 13 (2007). 20 June 2011 ‹http://eprints.qut.edu.au/15026/›. Hunt, Cathy and Phyllida Shaw. A Sustainable Arts Sector: What Will It Take? Strawberry Hills: Currency House, 2007. Knell, John. Theatre’s New Rules of Evolution. Available from Intelligence Agency, 2008. Office of Economic and Statistical Research. “Information Brief: Australian Demographic Statistics June Quarter 2009.” Canberra: OESR (2010). 20 June 2012 ‹http://www.oesr.qld.gov.au/queensland-by-theme/demography/briefs/aust-demographic-stats/aust-demographic-stats-200906.pdf›.

Introduction It used to be the case that for the mass of workers, work was something that was done in order to get by. A working class was simply the sum total of all those workers and their dependents whose wages paid for the necessities of life, providing the bare minimum for family reproduction, to secure a place and a lineage within the social order. However, work has now become something else. Work has become the privileged sign of a new kind of class, whose existence is guaranteed not so much by work, but by the very fact of holding a job. Society no longer divides itself between a ruling elite and a subordinated working class, but between a job-holding, job-aspiring class, and those excluded from holding a job; those unable, by virtue of age, infirmity, education, gender, race or demographics, to participate in the rewards of work. Today, these rewards are not only a regular salary and job satisfaction (the traditional consolations of the working class), but also a certain capacity to plan ahead, to gain control of one's destiny through saving and investment, and to enjoy the pleasures of consumption through the fulfilment of self-images. What has happened to transform the worker from a subsistence labourer to an affluent consumer? In what way has the old working class now become part of the consumer society, once the privileged domain of the rich? And what effects has this transformation had on capitalism and its desire for profit? These questions take on an immediacy when we consider that, in the recent Federal election held in Australia (November 11, 2001), voters in the traditional working class areas of western Sydney deserted the Labour Party (the party of the worker) and instead voted Liberal/conservative (the party of capital and small business). The fibro worker cottage valleys of Parramatta are apparently no more, replaced by the gentrified mansions of an aspiring worker formation, in pursuit of the wealth and independence once the privilege of the educated bourgeoisie. In this brief essay, I will outline an understanding of work in terms of its changing relation to capital. My aim is to show how the terrain of work has shifted so that it no longer operates in strict subordination to capital, and has instead become an investment in capital. The worker no longer works to subsist, but does so as an investment in the future. My argument is situated in the rich theoretical field set out by Karl Marx in his critique of capitalism, which described the labour/capital relation in terms of a repressive, extractive force (the power of capital over labour) and which has since been redefined by various poststructuralist theorists including Michel Foucault and Gilles Deleuze (Anti-Oedipus) in terms of the forces of productive desire. What follows then, is not a Marxist reading of work, but a reading of the way Marx sets forth work in relation to capital, and how this can be re-read through poststructuralism, in terms of the transformation of work from subordination to capital, to investment in capital; from work as the consequence of repression, to work as the fulfilment of desire. The Discipline of Work In his major work Capital Marx sets out a theory of labour in which the task of the worker is to produce surplus value: "Capitalist production is not merely the production of commodities, it is, by its very essence, the production of surplus-value. The worker produces not for himself, but for capital. It is no longer sufficient, therefore, for him simply to produce. He must produce surplus-value." (644) For Marx, surplus-value is generated when commodities are sold in the market for a price greater than the price paid to the worker for producing it: "this increment or excess over the original value I call surplus-value" (251). In order to create surplus value, the time spent by the worker in making a commodity must be strictly controlled, so that the worker produces more than required to fulfil his subsistence needs: ". . . since it is just this excess labour that supplies [the capitalist] with the surplus value" (1011). In other words, capital production is created through a separation between labour and capital: "a division between the product of labour and labour itself, between the objective conditions of labour and the subjective labour-power, was . . . the real foundation and the starting point of the process of capital production" (716). As Michael Ryan has argued, this separation was forced , through an allegiance between capital and the state, to guarantee the conditions for capital renewal by controlling the payment of labour in the form of a wage (84). Marx's analysis of industrialised capital in Capital thus outlines the way in which human labour is transformed into a form of surplus value, by the forced extraction of labour time: "the capitalist forces the worker where possible to exceed the normal rate of intensity [of work] and he forces him as best he can to extend the process of labour beyond the time necessary to replace the amount laid out in wages" (987). For Marx, capitalism is not a voluntary system; workers are not free to enter into and out of their relation with capital, since capital itself cannot survive without the constant supply of labour from which to extract surplus value. Needs and wants can only be satisfied within the labour/capital relation which homogenises labour into exchange value in terms of a wage, pegged to subsistence levels: "the capital earmarked for wages . . . belongs to the worker as soon as it has assumed its true shape of the means of subsistence destined to be consumed by him" (984). The "true shape" of wages, and hence the single, univocal truth of the wage labourer, is that he is condemned to subsistence consumption, because his capacity to share in the surplus value extracted from his own labour is circumscribed by the alliance between capital and the state, where wages are fixed and controlled according to wage market regulations. Marx's account of the labour/capital relation is imposing in its description of the dilemma of labour under the power of capital. Capitalism appears as a thermodynamic system fuelled by labour power, where, in order to make the system homogeneous, to produce exchange value, resistance is reduced: "Because it is capital, the automatic mechanism is endowed, in the person of the capitalist, with consciousness and a will. As capital, therefore, it is animated by the drive to reduce to a minimum the resistance offered by man, that obstinate yet elastic natural barrier." (527) In the capitalist system resistance takes the form of a living residue within the system itself, acting as an "elastic natural barrier" to the extractive force of capital. Marx names this living residue "man". In offering resistance, that is, in being subjected to the force of capital, the figure of man persists as the incommensurable presence of a resistive force composed by a refusal to assimilate. (Lyotard 102) This ambivalent position (the place of many truths) which places man within/outside capital, is not fully recognised by Marx at this stage of his analysis. It suggests the presence of an immanent force, coming from the outside, yet already present in the figure of man (man as "offering" resistance). This force, the counter-force operating through man as the residue of labour, is necessarily active in its effects on the system. That is to say, resistance in the system is not resistance to the system, but the resistance which carries the system elsewhere, to another place, to another time. Unlike the force of capital which works on labour to preserve the system, the resistive force figured in man works its way through the system, transforming it as it goes, with the elusive power to refuse. The separation of labour and capital necessary to create the conditions for capitalism to flourish is achieved by the action of a force operating on labour. This force manifests itself in the strict surveillance of work, through supervisory practices: "the capitalist's ability to supervise and enforce discipline is vital" (Marx 986). Marx's formulation of supervision here and elsewhere, assumes a direct power relation between the supervisor and the supervised: a coercive power in the form of 'the person of the capitalist, with consciousness and a will'. Surplus value can only be extracted at the maximum rate when workers are entirely subjected to physical surveillance. As Foucault has shown, surveillance practices in the nineteenth century involved a panoptic principle as a form of surveillance: "Power has its principle not so much in a person as in a certain concerted distribution of bodies, surfaces, lights, gazes; an arrangement whose internal mechanisms produce the relation in which individuals get caught up." (202) Power is not power over, but a productive power involving the commingling of forces, in which the resistive force of the body does not oppose, but complies with an authoritative force: "there is not a single moment of life from which one cannot extract forces, providing one knows how to differentiate it and combine it with others" (165). This commingling of dominant and resistive forces is distributive and proliferating, allowing the spread of institutions across social terrains, producing both "docile" and "delinquent" bodies at the same time: "this production of delinquency and its investment by the penal apparatus ..." (285, emphasis added). Foucault allows us to think through the dilemma posed by Marx, where labour appears entirely subject to the power of capital, reducing the worker to subsistence levels of existence. Indeed, Foucault's work allows us to see the figure of man, briefly adumbrated in quote from Marx above as "that obstinate yet elastic natural barrier", but refigured as an active, investing, transformative force, operating within the capitalist system, yet sending it on its way to somewhere else. In Foucauldian terms, self-surveillance takes on a normative function during the nineteenth century, producing a set of disciplinary values around the concepts of duty and respectability (Childers 409). These values were not only imposed from above, through education and the state, but enacted and maintained by the workers themselves, through the myriad threads of social conformity operating in daily life, whereby people made themselves suitable to each other for membership of the imagined community of disciplined worker-citizens. In this case, the wellbeing of workers gravitated to self-awareness and self-improvement, seen for instance in the magazines circulating at the time addressed to a worker readership (e.g. The Penny Magazine published in Britain from 1832-1845; see Sinnema 15). Instead of the satisfaction of needs in subsistence consumption, the worker was possessed by a desire for self-improvement, taking place in his spare time which was in turn, consolidated into the ego-ideal of the bourgeois self as the perfected model of civilised, educated man. Here desire takes the form of a repression (Freud 355), where the resistive force of the worker is channelled into maintaining the separation between labour and capital, and where the worker is encouraged to become a little bourgeois himself. The desire for self-improvement by the worker did not lead to a shift into the capitalist classes, but was satisfied in coming to know one's place, in being satisfied with fulfilling one's duty and in living a respectable life; that is in being individuated with respect to the social domain. Figure 1 - "The British Beehive", George Cruickshank's image of the hierarchy of labour in Victorian England (1840, modified 1867). Each profession is assigned an individualised place in the social order. A time must come however, in the accumulation of surplus-value, in the vast accelerating machine of capitalism, when the separation between labour and capital begins to dissolve. This point is reached when the residue left by capital in extracting surplus value is sufficient for the worker to begin consuming for its own sake, to engage in "unproductive expenditure" (Bataille 117) where desire is released as an active force. At this point, workers begin to abandon the repressive disciplines of duty and respectability, and turn instead to the control mechanisms of self-transformation or the "inventing of a self as if from scratch" (Massumi 18). In advanced capitalism, where the accrued wealth has concentrated not only profit but wages as well (a rise in the "standard of living"), workers cease to behave as subordinated to the system, and through their increased spending power re-enter the system as property owners, shareholders, superannuants and debtees with the capacity to access money held in banks and other financial institutions. As investment guru Peter Drucker has pointed out, the accumulated wealth of worker-owned superannuation or "pension" funds, is the most significant driving force of global capital today (Drucker 76-8). In the superannuation fund, workers' labour is not fully expended in the production of surplus value, but re-enters the system as investment on the workers' behalf, indirectly fuelling their capacity to fulfil desires through a rapidly accelerating circulation of money. As a consequence, new consumer industries begin to emerge based on the management of investment, where money becomes a product, subject to consumer choice. The lifestyles of the old capitalist class, itself a simulacra of aristocracy which it replaced, are now reproduced by the new worker-capitalist, but in ersatz forms, proliferating as the sign of wealth and abundance (copies of palatial homes replace real palaces, look-alike Rolex watches become available at cheap prices, medium priced family sedans take on the look and feel of expensive imports, and so forth). Unable to extract the surplus value necessary to feed this new desire for money from its own workforce (which has, in effect, become the main consumer of wealth), capital moves 'offshore' in search of a new labour pool, and repeats what it did to the labour pools in the older social formations in its relentless quest to maximise surplus value. Work and Control We are now witnessing a second kind of labour taking shape out of the deformations of the disciplinary society, where surplus value is not extracted, but incorporated into the labour force itself (Mules). This takes place when the separation between labour and capital dissolves, releasing quantities of "reserve time" (the time set aside from work in order to consume), which then becomes part of the capitalising process itself. In this case workers become "investors in their own lives (conceived of as capital) concerned with obtaining a profitable behaviour through information (conceived of as a production factor) sold to them." (Alliez and Feher 347). Gilles Deleuze has identified this shift in terms of what he calls a "control society" where the individuation of workers guaranteed by the disciplinary society gives way to a cybernetic modulation of "dividuals" or cypher values regulated according to a code (180). For dividualised workers, the resource incorporated into capital is their own lived time, no longer divided between work and leisure, but entirely "consummated" in capital (Alliez and Fehrer 350). A dividualised worker will thus work in order to produce leisure, and conversely enjoy leisure as a form of work. Here we have what appears to be a complete breakdown of the separation of labour and capital instigated by the disciplinary society; a sweeping away of the grounds on which labour once stood as a mass of individuals, conscious of their rivalry with capital over the spoils of surplus value. Here we have a situation where labour itself has become a form of capital (not just a commodity exchangeable on the market), incorporated into the temporalised body of the worker, contributing to the extraction of its own surplus value. Under the disciplinary society, the body of the worker became subject to panoptic surveillance, where "time and motion" studies enabled a more efficient control of work through the application of mathematical models. In the control society there is no need for this kind of panoptic control, since the embodiment of the panoptic principle, anticipated by Foucault and responsible for the individuation of the subject in disciplinary societies, has itself become a resource for extracting surplus value. In effect, dividualised workers survey themselves, not as a form of self-discipline, but as an investment for capitalisation. Dividuals are not motivated by guilt, conscience, duty or devotion to one's self, but by a transubjective desire for the other, the figure of a self projected into the future, and realised through their own bodily becoming. Unlike individuals who watch themselves as an already constituted self in the shadow of a super-ego, dividuals watch themselves in the image of a becoming-other. We might like to think of dividuals as self-correctors operating in teams and groups (franchises) whose "in-ness" as in-dividuals, is derived not from self-reflection, but from directiveness. Directiveness is the disposition of a habitus to find its way within programs designed to maximise performance across a territory. Following Gregory Bateson, we might say that directiveness is the pathway forged between a map and its territory (Bateson 454). A billiard ball sitting on a billiard table needs to be struck in such a way to simultaneously reduce the risk of a rival scoring from it, and maximise the score available, for instance by potting it into a pocket. The actual trajectory of the ball is governed by a logic of "restraint" (399) which sets up a number of virtual pathways, all but one of which is eliminated when the map (the rules and strategies of the game) is applied to the territory of the billiard table. If surveillance was the modus operandi of the old form of capitalism which required a strict control over labour, then directiveness is the new force of capital which wants to eliminate work in the older sense of the word, and replace it with the self-managed flow of capitalising labour. Marx's labour theory of value has led us, via a detour through Foucault and Deleuze, to the edge of the labour/capital divide, where the figure of man reappears, not as a worker subject to capital, but in some kind of partnership with it. This seems to spell the end of the old form of work, which required a strict delineation between labour and capital, where workers became rivals with capital for a share in surplus value. In the new formation of work, workers are themselves little capitalists, whose labour time is produced through their own investments back into the system. Yet, the worker is also subject to the extraction of her labour time in the necessity to submit to capital through the wage relation. This creates a reflexive snarl, embedded in the worker's own self-image, where work appears as leisure and leisure appears as work, causing labour to drift over capital and vice versa, for capital to drift over labour. This drifting, mobile relation between labour and capital cannot be secured through appeals to older forms of worker awareness (duty, responsibility, attentiveness, self-surveillance) since this would require a repression of the desire for self-transformation, and hence a fatal dampening of the dynamics of the market (anathema to the spirit of capitalism). Rather it can only be directed through control mechanisms involving a kind of forced partnership between capital and labour, where both parties recognise their mutual destinies in being "thrown" into the system. In the end, work remains subsumed under capital, but not in its alienated, disciplinary state. Rather work has become a form of capital itself, one's investment in the future, and hence as valuable now as it was before. 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Dynamics of the Printed Page: Representing the Nation in the Illustrated London News. Aldershot: Ashgate Press, 1998. Links http://csf.colorado.edu/psn/marx/Archive/1867-C1/ http://www.media-culture.org.au/0108/Disappear.html http://acnet.pratt.edu/~arch543p/help/Foucault.html http://acnet.pratt.edu/~arch543p/help/Deleuze.html Citation reference for this article MLA Style Mules, Warwick. "That Obstinate Yet Elastic Natural Barrier" M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 4.5 (2001). [your date of access] < http://www.media-culture.org.au/0111/Mules.xml >. Chicago Style Mules, Warwick, "That Obstinate Yet Elastic Natural Barrier" M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 4, no. 5 (2001), < http://www.media-culture.org.au/0111/Mules.xml > ([your date of access]). APA Style Mules, Warwick. (2001) That Obstinate Yet Elastic Natural Barrier. M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 4(5). < http://www.media-culture.org.au/0111/Mules.xml > ([your date of access]).