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This paper aims to offer a critical reading of the contemporary English author Ian McEwan’s fifth novel entitled Black Dogs (1992). I postulate that literary critics have frequently read his fiction for what it is not. As such, McEwan’s thought-provoking engagement with cultural questions has more often than not gone unexamined owing to a critical blueprint that, reducing his oeuvre to the topoi of violence, or to a gallery of obnoxious characters branded as psychopaths, typecasts him as a writer of disturbing, salacious fiction. Arguing that McEwan writes to dissect and criticise contemporary cul-ture, I offer a reading of his novel as a literary intervention into a cultural debate. I argue that of cru-cial importance in McEwan’s novel is the question of the narrative structure through which the differ-ent segments of Black Dogs are recounted. Drawing on the narratological concepts and terminology in-troduced in the works of Gَerard Genette and Shlomith Rimmon-Kenan, I examine the complexities of the narrative discourses of McEwan’s novel and its interlinking thematic analogies. Based on this read-ing, I conclude that McEwan’s intervention in the ongoing cultural debates of today makes of him a se-vere critic of our time.

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In the present paper, to determine the pressure-dependent yield surface of polypropylene/nanoclay nanocomposites, the extended Drucker-Prager yield criterion is used and its parameters are derived by a combined experimental/numerical/optimization approach. In this method, the difference between the experimental and numerical results obtained from three-point bending test is minimized. In order to alleviate the burdensome numerical simulation, a surrogate model based on Kriging method is used to estimate the cost function. The optimum of this function is obtained by maximizing expected improvement method. Afterward, the results are verified by tension and compression tests. The results show that this method can substitute the complicated experimental tests which are normally employed to identify the extended Drucker-Prager parameters. Also, this method can be used to determine the mechanical properties of thermoplastic material such as tensile and compressive yield stresses and elastic modulus using only a three-point bending test. In addition, it is found that the volumetric change of thermoplastic during plastic deformation is significant and the non-associative, compared with the associative, plastic flow assumption is more proper for this material for the extended Drucker-Prager criterion.

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Nowadays wobble motors are widely utilized as actuators with high torque rotary motion producing capability without the need for external gearbox. This study contains theoretical, numerical and experimental analysis of a planar wobble motor with compliant mechanism driven by shape memory alloy (SMA) wires. The cyclic expansion and contraction of SMA wires is converted to the plane curvilinear motion with circular path and then to the continuous unlimited rotary motion by means of a compliant mechanism and a gear system consisting of an internal and an external gear. After gear system designing based on achievable motion range caused by SMA wires length change, the relations between output torque, geometrical properties of motor and stress in SMA wire were derived. Also compliant mechanism parameters consisting of length, height, thickness and number of flexures were analyzed with the aim of mechanism stiffness calculating. Then the frequency analysis with finite element method is performed to investigate structural robustness and operational stability of designed mechanism. The designed motor is fabricated as a prototype to investigate its operational feasibility and working performances. The experimental results demonstrate motor capability in producing unlimited continuous rotary motion and repeatability of maximum output torque. The Maximum output torque was measured as 29.9, 32.7 and 34. 3mN.m for 1.6, 1.8 and 2v applied voltages respectively. With consideration of motor characteristics, it is appropriate for high torque and low speed applications with limited work space.

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The global banking industry, driven by new technologies and changing customer behavior, has undergone major changes unprecedentedly all over its history. As banks contend with innovation challenges in their processes, fintech companies benefiting from digital capabilities, deliver innovative and customer-centric services. In the business world, the collaboration between these two institutions has taken many forms. This has also attracted the attention of the academic community, and several papers have been written in this field. The purpose of this article is to review these articles, and its main question is: What has the scientific literature contribute toward bank-fintech collaboration? To answer this question, a systematic literature review, based on PRISMA Checklist, has been utilized and various specific areas have been examined to understand the necessity, evolution, challenges, drivers, benefits, barriers, and types of bank-fintech collaboration in the scientific articles. The most significant achievements of the articles are discussed in the paper; furthermore, different types of bank-fintech collaboration in the scientific literature are listed, and a bank-fintech collaboration algorithm is presented. Ultimately, the gaps in the literature and suggestions for future research are expressed.