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Two investigations are described in this thesis on the common theme of applying finite volume methods to simulate structural impact problems. The first investigation is the application of the Eulerian Finite Volume Method (EFVM) to simulate the low-speed impact of ductile materials. Simulation results are validated against experiment showing that it is possible to accurately predict crater deformation profiles over the low speed speed impact regime for different projectile and substrate materials. We demonstrate how the rate dependent Johnson-Cook plasticity model is crucial to ensure correspondence to experiment. The second investigation is concerned with the application of EFVM to simulate impact damage to thin polymeric coatings applied to the surface of metals. The aim of this work is to demonstrate how new simulation methods can help understand coating damage due stone impact. We simulate the debonding phenomenon of single layer coatings under impact by setting boundary conditions at the plate and paint interface. We show how EFVM can capture two limits of interface behaviour, sliding and separation 'slip' at one extreme and zero sliding 'welded' at the other. Results compare well to previously published experimental and simulation work, and our own finite element simulations in Abaqus. We also demonstrate how EFVM brings greater robustness and stability compared to FEM when modelling adhesive failure and higher energy impact penetration.

This dissertation seeks to offer an account of the presence of the Word of God in human words, the presence of Jesus in the Church’s speech about him. This topic is explored by taking Thomas Aquinas and Karl Barth as interlocutors, framing an ecumenical and systematic approach to analyzing the mystery of the Church’s preaching and teaching through comparing and contrasting their works on the Word of God. Special focus is on the role of handing on the Word in three genres: biblical exegesis, sermons, and systematic presentations of Christian doctrine (summa and dogmatics). My aim is to offer a Catholic and ecumenical theology of the Word of God: my three-genre focus is essential to this task.

I think of Living the Master Plan as an experimental ethnography. It might be better to say, in the words of Deleuze and Guattari, that it is a cartography. Whichever you prefer to call it, it is certainly an attempt to write critically about contemporary trends in American culture. I use multiple sites and subjects, including myself, to chart out the lines and machines which give shape to our lives. My map will take us into emerging forms of belonging, where community and corporatism converge and capitalist modes of valorization become our ethical foundation. Besides simply describing these emerging entities, I hope to provide a new context in which to evaluate them. Homeowners’ Associations, Master Planned Communities, and the property management firms specializing in their management are my privileged sites throughout. I map them out not only as new versions of community, but also as expressions of State desire. In writing these sections I tried to present what goes on in a Homeowners’ Association in a way that the inherently intimate operation of the State becomes visible and isomorphic with all sorts of local and internal arrangements. The Master Planned Community is also a place where matter seems charged with an affective agenda. This points toward a kind of cultural function and political practice that has received scant critical reflection.