CAD of Stacked Patch Antennas Through Multipurpose Admittance Matrices From FEM and Neural Networks

In this work, a novel computer-aided design methodology for probe-fed, cavity-backed, stacked microstrip patch antennas is proposed. The methodology incorporates the rigor of a numerical technique, such as finite element methods, which, in turn, makes use of a newly developed procedure (multipurpose admittance matrices) to carry out a full-wave analysis in a given structure in spite of certain physical shapes and dimensions not yet being established. With the aid of this technique, we form a training set for a neural network, whose output is the desired response of the antenna according to the value of design parameters. Last, taking advantage of this neural network, we perform a global optimization through a genetic algorithm or simulated annealing to obtain a final design. The proposed methodology is validated through a real design whose numerical results are compared with measurements with good agreement

Women in Europe and in the world: The state of the Union 2016

Building on the definition of oppression developed by the philosopher Iris Young, the article argues that women in Europe are an oppressed group. Relying on recent statistics, it points out that a high percentage of women are still subject to gender violence; economically exploited and marginalized; powerless with regard to governance and participation in the public sphere, as well as victims of androcentrism—a pattern of cultural evaluation which seriously undermines women’s potential for development. The article then shows how this state of affairs has worsened over the last years, under the effects of the financial and economic crisis, and the austerity policies with which the European states have responded. Finally, it singles out two possible future scenarios. If the current neo-liberal trends persist, we can expect a move towards societies more polarized in terms of class and ethnicity; low fertility rates; and an increasing poverty of those most in need of care and in charge of care provision. The crisis could instead be perceived as an opportunity to diverge from this prevailing neo-liberal model, calling for a new, inclusive, societal model of development—a new humanism which puts the person, in her whole complexity and in her very real care dependent nature, at the very core of the political and economic project

“Notorious RBG”: A conversation with United States Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

On February 2, 2016, Prof. Ruth Rubio-Marín, Chair of Constitutional and Comparative Public Law at the European University Institute (EUI), interviewed the U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The interview took place in the framework of the European University Institute’s annual Ursula Hirschmann Lecture, a space dedicated to stimulate research and thinking which links ideas about Europe and the study of gender. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg engaged in a conversation that tackled her whole persona, without making rigid divides between the professional and the personal. Deep legal analysis, personal anecdotes, and invaluable advice for future researchers and lawyers intertwine in the interview, which sheds light on important dimensions of equality law