Directive antennas based on two-dimensional dielectric EBG crystals

The aim of this work is the design and analysis of novel antennas realised with electromagnetic bandgap (EBG) structures based on simple two-dimensional cylindrical, triangular and square lattices of dielectric rods. In particular, we focused our attention on designing antennas with high directivity and front-to-back-ratio (FTBR) on the azimuthal plane. Several EBG structures have been investigated, divided in two main categories: multilayer EBG structures with an angular defect window and EBG corner reflectors. The former are based on a feeding source excited within a cavity: fields at badgap frequencies are trapped inside the cavity and opening an angular defect window allows propagation in that privileged directions leading to directive radiation patterns. The latter are based on a source placed in front of an EBG corner reflector: at bandgap frequencies, the excited fields are reflected toward the corner aperture (in a similar fashion to metallic corners of analogous dimensions) enhancing radiation patterns’ directivity. The analysed structures have been also modified to host multiple sources to create multiple-feed antenna structures with the ability of rotating the radiation patterns on the azimuthal plane. Antennas have been modelled using an in-house developed Finite-Difference Time- Domain solver and the commercial Finite Element Method solver Ansoft HFSS, focusing on structures designed to operate in the X-band frequency region (8.2GHz-12.4GHz) in order to take advantage of the available equipment and facilities at Heriot-Watt University for prototypes testing. The proposed structures can be nevertheless scaled up or down in size in order to respectively scale down or up of the same factor the frequency of operation. The main achievements of the analysed multilayer EBG structures and corner EBG reflectors are the large impedance bandwidth (greater than 30%) with stable radiation patterns within, high gain (>12dBi) and high FTBR (greater than 25dB) accomplished using EBG structures made with a small number (10-20) of low-loss ceramic rods arranged in very simple two-dimensional crystals. EBG corner reflectors have been also found basically equivalent (at badgap frequencies) to metal reflectors in terms of achieved gain and radiation patterns, suggesting them as possible substitutes for high frequencies applications where dielectric losses would be smaller than metal losses

The emergence of gender justice in international criminal law: towards the recognition of fgm/c as crimes against humanity?

Chapter 1 the emergence of gender justice in icl. Chapter 2 fgm/c a global problem. Chapter 3 fgm/c as crimes against humanity?ope

Borges, the hedonistic reader

En sus ensayos, reseñas y notas de los años treinta y cuarenta, Borges emprende una dura embestida contra el realismo y la psicología en la novela argentina. Entre las interpretaciones críticas de sus enunciados se ha generalizado la idea de que, por el valor que le atribuye al rigor constructivo, Borges vindica el género fantástico por oposición a la narración realista. Este trabajo propone revisar esta conclusión a partir de una lectura de los ensayos del autor correspondientes a este período, en función del solapado diálogo que éstos mantienen con ciertas ideas de Stevenson sobre el realismo y la novela. Los estudios que se ocuparon de la gravitación de Stevenson en la ensayística borgeana no han abordado aun lo que considero el nudo principal de los ensayos, esto es, la ética que los alienta. A partir de lo que defino como una ética del lector hedonista, intentaré argumentar que lo que funciona en ambos ensayistas es, antes que una verdadera impugnación del realismo, una contundente vindicación de la literatura de imaginación, que, al menos para Borges, no se identifica únicamente con la modalidad fantástica. Este diálogo permitirá poner en cuestión la manida imagen de un Borges antirrealista.In his essays, reviews and notes from the thirties and forties, Borges begins a harsh attack against the realism and psychologism of Argentinean novel. Among the critical interpretations of his statements it is widely believed that Borges vindicates the fantastic genre (for the value that he attributes to its constructive rigour) as opposed to realistic narrative. This work proposes to revise this conclusion from a reading of the author’s essays of the period, based on the veiled dialogue they maintain with certain Stevenson's ideas about realism and novel. The studies that have dealt with the influence of Stevenson on Borgean essays have not reached yet what I consider is the main core of the essays, that is, their ethics. From what I define as an ethic of the hedonistic reader, I will attempt to argue that, rather than a true refutation of realism, both essayists make a strong vindication of imaginative literature, which, at least for Borges, refers not only to the fantastic genre. This dialogue will call into question the hackneyed image of an anti-realist Borges

How Do Maternal Subclinical Symptoms Influence Infant Motor Development during the First Year of Life?

An unavoidable reciprocal influence characterizes the mother-child dyad. Within this relationship, the presence of depression, somatization, hostility, paranoid ideation, and interpersonal sensitivity symptoms at a subclinical level and their possible input on infant motor competences has not been yet considered. Bearing in mind that motor abilities represent not only an indicator of the infant\u2019s health-status, but also the principal field to infer his/her needs, feelings and intentions, in this study the quality of infants\u2019 movements were assessed and analyzed in relationship with the maternal attitudes. The aim of this research was to investigate if/how maternal symptomatology may pilot infant\u2019s motor development during his/her first year of life by observing the characteristics of motor development in infants aged 0\u201311 months. Participants included 123 mothers and their infants (0\u201311 months-old). Mothers\u2019 symptomatology was screened with the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R), while infants were tested with the Peabody Developmental Motor Scale-Second Edition. All dyads belonged to a non-clinical population, however, on the basis of SCL-90-R scores, the mothers\u2019 sample was divided into two groups: normative and subclinical. Descriptive, t-test, correlational analysis between PDMS-2 scores and SCL-90-R results are reported, as well as regression models results. Both positive and negative correlations were found between maternal perceived symptomatology, Somatization (SOM), Interpersonal Sensitivity (IS), Depression (DEP), Hostility (HOS), and Paranoid Ideation (PAR) and infants\u2019 motor abilities. These results were further verified by applying regression models to predict the infant\u2019s motor outcomes on the basis of babies\u2019 age and maternal status. The presence of positive symptoms in the SCL-90-R questionnaire (subclinical group) predicted good visual-motor integration and stationary competences in the babies. In particular, depressive and hostility feelings in mothers seemed to induce an infant motor behavior characterized by a major control of the environmental space. When mothers perceived a higher level of hostility and somatization, their babies showed difficulties in sharing action space, such as required in the development of stationary positions and grasping abilities. In a completely different way, when infants can rely on a mother with low-perceived symptoms (normative group) his/her motor performances develop with a higher degree of freedom/independence. These findings suggest, for the first time, that even in a non- clinical sample, mother\u2019s perceived-symptoms can produce important consequences not in infant motor development as a whole, but in some specific areas, contributing to shape the infant\u2019s motor ability and his/her capability to act in the world

Del sinsentido como bioescritura : nonsense y vida en Mario Levrero

Este trabajo se propone realizar una lectura de Caza de conejos (1986), de Mario Levrero, a partir de la idea de que la extrañeza y aparente "falta" de sentido de la novela es efecto de las formas narrativas propias del nonsense. Nuestra hipótesis afirma que la preocupación por la imaginación nonsensical en los relatos de Levrero pone de manifiesto un singular modo de producir/preguntarse por el sentido que busca imaginar el devenir indiferente e impersonal de una vida. Se postula entonces la noción de posibilidades de vida nonsensical para conceptualizar el modo en que estos relatos buscan hacer sensible la suspensión del sentido y la inmanencia de una vida como pura potencia inmanente, a-subjetiva, informe y sin razón.This work intends to present a reading of Caza de conejos (1986), by Mario Levrero, following the idea that the strangeness and apparent "lack" of meaning of the novel is an effect of literary nonsense's narrative forms. Our hypothesis states that the Levrero's interest in nonsensical imagination reveals a unique way of producing / wondering about forms that seeks to imagine an indifferent and impersonal becoming of a life. I pose the notion of nonsensical possibilities of life to conceptualize the way in which these stories seek to show a suspension of sense and the immanence of a life as pure formless, nonsensical, and not-subjective power

Borges, the hedonistic reader

En sus ensayos, reseñas y notas de los años treinta y cuarenta, Borges emprende una dura embestida contra el realismo y la psicología en la novela argentina. Entre las interpretaciones críticas de sus enunciados se ha generalizado la idea de que, por el valor que le atribuye al rigor constructivo, Borges vindica el género fantástico por oposición a la narración realista. Este trabajo propone revisar esta conclusión a partir de una lectura de los ensayos del autor correspondientes a este período, en función del solapado diálogo que éstos mantienen con ciertas ideas de Stevenson sobre el realismo y la novela. Los estudios que se ocuparon de la gravitación de Stevenson en la ensayística borgeana no han abordado aun lo que considero el nudo principal de los ensayos, esto es, la ética que los alienta. A partir de lo que defino como una ética del lector hedonista, intentaré argumentar que lo que funciona en ambos ensayistas es, antes que una verdadera impugnación del realismo, una contundente vindicación de la literatura de imaginación, que, al menos para Borges, no se identifica únicamente con la modalidad fantástica. Este diálogo permitirá poner en cuestión la manida imagen de un Borges antirrealista.In his essays, reviews and notes from the thirties and forties, Borges begins a harsh attack against the realism and psychologism of Argentinean novel. Among the critical interpretations of his statements it is widely believed that Borges vindicates the fantastic genre (for the value that he attributes to its constructive rigour) as opposed to realistic narrative. This work proposes to revise this conclusion from a reading of the author’s essays of the period, based on the veiled dialogue they maintain with certain Stevenson's ideas about realism and novel. The studies that have dealt with the influence of Stevenson on Borgean essays have not reached yet what I consider is the main core of the essays, that is, their ethics. From what I define as an ethic of the hedonistic reader, I will attempt to argue that, rather than a true refutation of realism, both essayists make a strong vindication of imaginative literature, which, at least for Borges, refers not only to the fantastic genre. This dialogue will call into question the hackneyed image of an anti-realist Borges.Fil: Biancotto, Natalia. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Humanidades y Artes. Centro de Estudios de Literatura Argentina; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

An eccentric becoming: The nonsense in lasinvitadas, by silvina ocampo

Este trabajo propone leer las formas del nonsense en Las invitadas (1961), de Silvina Ocampo, siguiendo la hipótesis de que estos relatos se organizan según las mismas preocupaciones que alientan la producción inicial y tardía de la autora. Se discute el consenso crítico que define a este momento de su narrativa como una etapa de madurez, determinada por relatos acabados y una lógica compositiva alejada del efecto de fugacidad, tontería y dispersión del sentido de sus primeros y últimos libros. Para ello, se analiza estos cuentos como retratos del momento en que una vida se torsiona en un devenir excéntrico. El resultado expone el modo en que Las invitadas se ubica a mitad de camino entre la precariedad de un relato que se acaba en el rasgo idiota del personaje y el despropósito de la ficción como registro de la idiotez. Estos cuentos manifiestan una preocupación insistente por las formas de la rareza, ambigüedad e inconclusividad propias del nonsense.This work proposes to read Las invitadas (1961), by Silvina Ocampo, according to the hypothesis that these stories are organized by the same concerns that encourage the author’s initial and late production. It is proposed to discuss the critical consensus that defines this moment of his narrative as a stage of maturity, determined by finished stories and by a compositional logic away from the effect of transience, foolishness and dispersion of their first and last books. The stories are read as portraits of the moment in which a life twists into an eccentric becoming. The result exposes the way in which Las invitadas is located halfway between the precariousness of a story that ends in the character’s idiotic trait is made and the nonsense of a fiction as a record of idiocy. These stories show an insistent concern about the nonsensical forms of rarity, ambiguity and inconclusivity.Fil: Biancotto, Natalia. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Humanidades y Artes. Instituto de Estudios Críticos en Humanidades. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario. Instituto de Estudios Críticos en Humanidades; Argentin

Una salida abre mundos

Relato de una experiencia docente teatral en escuelas.Dramatiza La Plat

El jardín de la escritura

La primera motivación para este dossier —si se puede establecer un orden en el campo de las motivaciones— fue consecuente con un impulso primordial de nuestro trabajo crítico: el de preguntarnos insistentemente, con obcecación, a veces con inquietud y, casi siempre, con autocomplacencia: “¿qué estamos haciendo acá?”. Se trata del movimiento fundante de la crítica, tal como lo formula Starobinski en su célebre ensayo “La relación crítica” (1970), pero también de la literatura, en la tradición romántica, preguntarse por el fundamento mismo de la práctica de la escritura. Habría entonces, en el origen, o en el retorno de la pregunta originaria, una matriz común entre la actividad crítica y la literaria, una especie de artefacto retórico que gira sobre sí mismo y funciona en tanto que se descalabra, un aparato sin fundamento que hace un juego extraño.Fil: Biancotto, Natalia. Instituto de Estudios Críticos en Humanidades Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Santa Fe. Argentina

Escenas singulares de una infancia compartida: las autobiografías de Victoria y Silvina Ocampo /Unique scenes of a shared childhood: the autobiographies of Victoria and Silvina Ocampo

Two dissimilar strategies of construction of the self organize the autobiographical writings of Victoria and Silvina Ocampo; one pursues the reconstruction of memory, the other prefers the opacity of memory. On the one hand, the line of interpretation I develop from Inventions of the memory (2006) —the autobiography in verse of Silvina Ocampo, based on childhood memories— centers around the relation between memory writing, misremembering, and the problem of infancy (Agamben). On the other hand, my reading of El Archipiélago[The Archipelago] (Sur, 1979) —the first volume of Victoria Ocampo’s autobiography, corresponding her childhood— aims at showing the way in which the author relies on the possibility of clearly narrating the memory time, using the strategies of classical autobiography (Lejeune).Keywords: Silvina Ocampo; Victoria Ocampo; autobiography; Argentinian literature; XXth. centuryDos proyectos de escritura del yo divergentes: uno que apuesta a reconstruir la memoria, otro que prefiere la opacidad del recuerdo; dos estrategias de autofiguración  disímiles: un yo en primer plano y un yo en fuga, confundido en "ella", organizan las autobiografías de Victoria y Silvina Ocampo. La línea de interpretación que desarrollo a partir de Invenciones del recuerdo (2006), la autobiografía en verso de Silvina Ocampo compuesta por recuerdos infantiles, gira en torno al vínculo entre escritura de los recuerdos, impropiedad del recuerdo —impersonalidad—, y el problema de la infancia (Agamben). En contrapunto, mi lectura de El Archipiélago (1979), el primer tomo de la autobiografía de Victoria Ocampo que corresponde al período de la niñez, pretende mostrar el modo en que la autora confía en la posibilidad de narrar con nitidez el tiempo de la memoria, a partir de las estrategias de la autobiografía clásica (Lejeune).Palabras clave: Silvina Ocampo; Victoria Ocampo; autobiografía; literatura argentina; siglo X