“There is only power”: Surveying the Structures and Operations of Power in the Magical World of Harry Potter

As the internationally best-selling series Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling moves into its second generation of readers, it becomes increasingly important to analyze the assumptions it communicates about power differentials between people and belief systems. A central tenant of narrative paradigm holds that humans are innately narrative, internalizing narrative frameworks as a means to understand the world which then become externalized through human action. Thus, while the social hierarchies, collective actions, and institutional authorities in the fantasy world of Harry Potter in some ways map onto Anglo-American social and political structures, the significant differences between these textual and “real world” structures reveal the complex, often entangled ways of distributing power in both contexts. Through identifying and analyzing the complex power systems within the Harry Potter novels, this essay critiques the contradicting power struggles that simultaneously pursue social revolution and maintenance of a traditional feudal fantasy. This involves an in-depth critique of how power is apportioned throughout society through four general locations of power. By locating power as ideological, individual, collective, and institutional it creates a framework to analyze the varying types of power exhibited in the Wizarding world, which is then used to interpret how these structures compete or cooperate. The competing power dynamics between locations of power, such as the individual power enacted by Harry and Dumbledore in their acts of civil disobedience against the Ministry of Magic, reflect the novels’ tension between the desire for social revolution and the desire for tradition/nostalgia. These competing desires that erupt from various power structures – which reflect many of the same structures and modes of thinking in the real world – invite a criticism of the narrative frameworks in the novels, which as they become externalized through human action invite criticism of the normative behaviors of real world power structures

Fatigue properties of notched specimens made of FeP04 steel

Fatigue properties of the specimens with different notches made of FeP04 steel are presented. The specimens ware characterized by double symmetric lateral notches with a notch root radius ranging from ρ = 0.2 to 10 mm. The MTS 809 servo-hydraulic device was used for tests. All fatigue tests were performed under force control, by imposing a constant value of the nominal load ratio (R = 0) and a load amplitude Pa = 6 kN for the notch root ρ = 0.2 mm and 7 kN for the notch root ρ = 1.25; 2.5 and 10 mm. The test frequency varied from 13 and 15 Hz. During the tests under constant load fatigue weakening of the material and an increase in strain were observed.Подані втомні властивості зразків з подвійними симетричними боковими вирізами (радіуси концентратора від ρ = 0,2 до 10 mm) з сталі FeP04. Для випробувань використовували сервогідравлічний пристрій МТС 809. Втомні випроби виконані за постійного номінального коефіцієнта навантаження (R = 0), амплітуди навантаження 6 kN для радіуса концентратора ρ = 0,2 mm і 7 kN для радіусів ρ = 1,25; 2,5 і 10 mm. Частота навантаження 13...15 Hz. Під час випробувань з постійним втомним навантаженням спостерігали знеміцнювання матеріалу зі збільшенням деформованості.Представлены усталостные свойства образцов с двойными симметричными боковыми вырезами (радиусы концентратора от ρ = 0,2 до 10 mm) из стали FeP04. Для испытаний использовали сервогидравлическое устройство МТС 809. Усталостные испытания выполнены при постоянном значении номинального коэффициента нагружения (R = 0), амплитуде нагружения 6 kN для радиуса концентратора ρ = 0,2 mm и 7 kN для радиусов ρ = 1,25; 2,5 и 10 mm. Частота нагружения изменялась в пределах от 13 до 15 Hz. Во время испытаний с постоянным усталостным нагружением наблюдалось разупрочнение материала и увеличения деформируемости

Descriptions of reversed yielding in bending

Existence of Bauschinger effect in bending-unbending of copper beams has been shown from experiment. In modelling of the Bauschinger effect, it is shown that a significant second plastic penetration can occur with the release of the moment required for an elasticplastic bending of a beam. The theory is given for both linear and parabolic hardening material models. The elastic and plastic strains are developed from each hardening model to express the beam curvature of the unstressed neutral axis. Conditions are expressed, using the normalized stress—strain response of a rectangular beam section, for which the release is purely elastic and elastic—plastic. Under the latter the depth to which a second zone of plasticity penetrates is given. Two stress distributions: one for applying the moment and the other for its release, are sufficient to derive the residual stress. Residuals found for parabolic hardening are believed to be more realistic than those from simpler linear or perfectly plastic models, particularly, where a second penetration is evident

Comparison of the calculated and experimental fatigue lives under non-proportional bending with torsion of 10hnap steel

The paper contains the results of fatigue tests of 10HNAP steel under nonproportional bending with torsion. The circular smooth specimens were tested. The tests were carried out at the fatigue test stands MZGS-200PL and MZGS-200L. The best results of experimental and calculation lives consistence for the considered materials was obtained using the criterion of maximum shear stresses in the critical plane and the Palmgren-Miner hypothesis of damage accumulation

From St\"{a}ckel systems to integrable hierarchies of PDE's: Benenti class of separation relations

We propose a general scheme of constructing of soliton hierarchies from finite dimensional St\"{a}ckel systems and related separation relations. In particular, we concentrate on the simplest class of separation relations, called Benenti class, i.e. certain St\"{a}ckel systems with quadratic in momenta integrals of motion.Comment: 24 page

3D Plasmonic Design Approach for Efficient Transmissive Huygens Metasurfaces

In this paper we present a design concept for 3D plasmonic scatterers as high- efficiency transmissive metasurface (MS) building blocks. A genetic algorithm (GA) routine partitions the faces of the walls inside an open cavity into a M x N grid of voxels which can be either covered with metal or left bare, and optimizes the distribution of metal coverage needed to generate electric and magnetic modes of equal strength with a targeted phase delay (Φt) at the design wavelength. Even though the electric and magnetic modes can be more complicated than typical low order modes, with their spectral overlap and equal strengths, they act as a Huygens source, with the accompanying low reflection magnitude. Square/hexagonal voxels inside square/rectangular cavities are thoroughly analyzed for operation at 8 µm, although the technique can be applied to different cavity geometries for operation across the electromagnetic spectrum. Results from full-wave simulations show the GA routine can repeatedly pinpoint scatterer geometries emitting at any Φt value across 2π phase space with transmittances of at least 60%, making these MS building blocks an attractive plasmonic alternative for practical optical applications. Full-scale metasurface devices are calculated from near-fields of the individual elements to validate the optical functionality

Robust Method of Determining Microfacet BRDF Parameters in the Presence of Noise via Recursive Optimization

Accurate bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) models are essential for computer graphics and remote sensing performance. The popular microfacet class of BRDF models is geometric-optics-based and computationally inexpensive. Fitting microfacet models to scatterometry measurements is a common yet challenging requirement that can result in a model being fit as one of several unique local minima. Final model fit accuracy is therefore largely based on the quality of the initial parameter estimate. This makes for widely varying material parameter estimates and causes inconsistent performance comparisons across microfacet models, as will be shown with synthetic data. We proposed a recursive optimization method for accurate parameter determination. This method establishes an array of local minima best fits by initializing a fixed number of parameter conditions that span the parameter space. The identified solution associated with the best fit quality is extracted from the local array and stored as the relative global best fit. This method is first applied successfully to synthetic data, then it is applied to several materials and several illumination wavelengths. This method proves to reduce manual parameter adjustments, is equally weighted across incident angles, helps define parameter stability within a model, and consistently improves fit quality over the high-error local minimum best fit from lsqcurvefit by an average of 71%

Comparison of Microfacet BRDF Model to Modified Beckmann-Kirchhoff BRDF Model for Rough and Smooth Surfaces

A popular class of BRDF models is the microfacet models, where geometric optics is assumed. In contrast, more complex physical optics models may more accurately predict the BRDF, but the calculation is more resource intensive. These seemingly disparate approaches are compared in detail for the rough and smooth surface approximations of the modified Beckmann-Kirchhoff BRDF model, assuming Gaussian surface statistics. An approximation relating standard Fresnel reflection with the semi-rough surface polarization term, Q, is presented for unpolarized light. For rough surfaces, the angular dependence of direction cosine space is shown to be identical to the angular dependence in the microfacet distribution function. For polished surfaces, the same comparison shows a breakdown in the microfacet models. Similarities and differences between microfacet BRDF models and the modified Beckmann-Kirchhoff model are identified. The rationale for the original Beckmann-Kirchhoff F2bk geometric term relative to both microfacet models and generalized Harvey-Shack model is presented. A modification to the geometric F2bk term in original Beckmann-Kirchhoff BRDF theory is proposed

Nonlinearities in the reflection and transmission spectra of the photonic bandgap heterostructures with n–i–p–i crystals

Nonlinear optical properties of photonic crystal heterostructures with embedded n–i–p–i superlattices are investigated. Self-consistent calculations of the transmission and reflection spectra near the defect mode are performed using the transfer-matrix method and taking into account the gain saturation. Analysis of features and output characteristics is carried out for one-dimensional photonic crystal heterostructure amplifiers in the GaAs–GaInP system having at the central part an active “defect” from doubled GaAs n–i–p–i crystal layers. The gain saturation in the active layers in the vicinity of the defect changes the index contrast of the photonic structure and makes worse the emission at the defect mode. Spectral bistability effect, which can be exhibited in photonic crystal heterostructure amplifiers, is predicted and the hysteresis loop and other attending phenomena are described. The bistability behavior and modulation response efficiency demonstrate the potential possibilities of the photonic crystal heterostructures with n–i–p–i layers as high-speed optical amplifiers and switches