Confusion in the Karnatic Capital: Fusion in Chennai, India

This dissertation examines how a contested musical practice makes the problems of modernity in India audible. In particular, I look at the relationship between South Indian "fusion" musicians and India's recent economic and cultural growth attributed to the economic reforms of 1991. Fusion is the local name for a musical practice that combines South Indian classical music with elements from rock, jazz, and world music. During thirteen months of ethnographic fieldwork carried out in the South Indian city of Chennai between 2006-8, I attended countless concerts, interviewed dozens of people involved with musical production, and performed with musicians. I observed how musicians and audiences perpetuated the idea that fusion was contested and I documented the local debates that often expressed a deep uncertainty and ambiguity about the legitimacy of fusion. What can a contested musical practice reveal about the recent economic and cultural changes in contemporary urban India? Fusion is contested because its multiple and contradicting histories, definitions, and opinions make it a unique musical problem in Chennai. This problem is further complicated when the explicit intension of fusion as musical mixing is also understood as an example of persistent debates of cultural mixing that are so crucial to India's colonial history and postcolonial present. In this dissertation, I show how fusion triggers debates that provide a unique constellation of irresolvable tensions that help situate contemporary, urban, South Indian musicians within the changing relations between India and the West. The contestation about fusion has led to a lacuna of critical scholarship that this dissertation remedies. I argue that rather than being a reason to overlook fusion, fusion's contestation loads it with meaning and makes it a rich, unexamined site of expressive culture. It provides a unique domain to understand how musicians in Chennai represent the always-changing relations of India and the West through their discourse about music and musical sound

The origin of deep ocean microseisms in the North Atlantic Ocean

Oceanic microseisms are small oscillations of the ground, in the frequency range of 0.05–0.3 Hz, associated with the occurrence of energetic ocean waves of half the corresponding frequency. In 1950, Longuet-Higgins suggested in a landmark theoretical paper that (i) microseisms originate from surface pressure oscillations caused by the interaction between oppositely travelling components with the same frequency in the ocean wave spectrum, (ii) these pressure oscillations generate seismic Stoneley waves on the ocean bottom, and (iii) when the ocean depth is comparable with the acoustic wavelength in water, compressibility must be considered. The efficiency of microseism generation thus depends on both the wave frequency and the depth of water. While the theory provided an estimate of the magnitude of the corresponding microseisms in a compressible ocean, its predictions of microseism amplitude heretofore have never been tested quantitatively. In this paper, we show a strong agreement between observed microseism and calculated amplitudes obtained by applying Longuet-Higgins' theory to hindcast ocean wave spectra from the North Atlantic Ocean. The calculated vertical displacements are compared with seismic data collected at stations in North America, Greenland, Iceland and Europe. This modelling identifies a particularly energetic source area stretching from the Labrador Sea to south of Iceland, where wind patterns are especially conducive to generating oppositely travelling waves of same period, and the ocean depth is favourable for efficient microseism generation through the ‘organ pipe’ resonance of the compression waves, as predicted by the theory. This correspondence between observations and the model predictions demonstrates that deep ocean nonlinear wave–wave interactions are sufficiently energetic to account for much of the observed seismic amplitudes in North America, Greenland and Iceland

A Model Predictive Path Integral Method for Fast, Proactive, and Uncertainty-Aware UAV Planning in Cluttered Environments

Current motion planning approaches for autonomous mobile robots often assume that the low level controller of the system is able to track the planned motion with very high accuracy. In practice, however, tracking error can be affected by many factors, and could lead to potential collisions when the robot must traverse a cluttered environment. To address this problem, this paper proposes a novel receding-horizon motion planning approach based on Model Predictive Path Integral (MPPI) control theory -- a flexible sampling-based control technique that requires minimal assumptions on vehicle dynamics and cost functions. This flexibility is leveraged to propose a motion planning framework that also considers a data-informed risk function. Using the MPPI algorithm as a motion planner also reduces the number of samples required by the algorithm, relaxing the hardware requirements for implementation. The proposed approach is validated through trajectory generation for a quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), where fast motion increases trajectory tracking error and can lead to collisions with nearby obstacles. Simulations and hardware experiments demonstrate that the MPPI motion planner proactively adapts to the obstacles that the UAV must negotiate, slowing down when near obstacles and moving quickly when away from obstacles, resulting in a complete reduction of collisions while still producing lively motion.Comment: Accepted to IROS 2023, 8 page

Terminal Guidance for Autonomous Aerial Refueling

Autonomous Aerial Refueling of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV-AAR) has been determined to be possible through the development of an autonomous system with terminal guidance capabilities for a probe-and-drogue refueling configuration. An aircraft tanker and UAV were selected for analysis and determination of system constraints. The UAV’s mechanics and performance characteristics were determined to understand the aircraft’s stability and controllability characteristics. A hardware system necessary for autonomously docking the probe with the drogue was developed using colored light emitting diodes. The flow-field behind an aircraft tanker wing was analyzed to understand the effects of the wake acting on the aircraft to be refueled, and to determine where the pilot must initiate the terminal guidance system. From this analysis, it was determined that the UAV will enter the dangerous flow-field at about 175 feet behind the location of the drogue, approximately 250 feet from the tanker’s wing. This area was named the terminal flight arena – the area in which the pilot can no longer control the UAV without a guidance system. Multiple fixed-flight paths for this flight arena were analyzed to determine changing forces acting on the UAV. Utilizing the determined performance characteristics, the control surface deflections necessary for steady flight through these fixed-flight paths were calculated. The best fixed-flight path for UAV-AAR was a path angled ten degrees below a horizontal path, which resulted in the most minimal change of control surface deflection throughout the terminal flight arena. The overall fixed-flight path control surface deflection analysis will be used to assist in developing a strategy for an autonomous system. The Dual-Optimal Path-Planning technique will be implemented for development of the autonomous system for terminal guidance. The technique will follow a given loop which will allow the UAV to fly within a predetermined window based on the UAV’s maneuvering abilities, the locations of minimum induced force that will act on the UAV, the location and orientation of the drogue, and the quickest path for approach and a successful rendezvous.No embarg

For the potential of Kierkegaardian analysis in Soviet studies through the study of Soviet film

This thesis will argue for the potential for the use of Kierkegaardian philosophy as a tool of analysis in the field of Soviet studies demonstrated through the character analysis of select Soviet films. From Danish, existential philosopher Søren Kierkegaard’s model of faith, presented in his follow-up to Either/Or, Fear and Trembling, I will use the model and its parts, which are steeped in existential and religious philosophy, and will connect them to the Soviet Union through the study of the historical link and the philosophical link between them. They are historically connected through the link between Kierkegaard and early Soviet thinkers. The philosophical connection is discovered in the existence of the understanding of Communism as religion, which brings Soviet Communism to the religious realm of Kierkegaard’s World. With a connection between Kierkegaard and the Soviet Union firmly in place, it becomes possible to demonstrate the possibility of Kierkegaardian philosophy through the film analysis. I divide the analysis between the four parts of Kierkegaard’s model of faith. The ethical becomes reflected in Boris from The Cranes are Flying, Stalin from The Fall of Berlin, and Alyosha from Ballad of a Soldier. The aesthetic is found in the characters of Mark from The Cranes are Flying, Hitler from The Fall of Berlin, and Vadim from The Forty-First. The knight of resignation is found in Veronika from The Cranes are Flying and Maria from The Forty-First. And finally the knight of faith is found in Alyosha Ivanov from The Fall of Berlin and Klim from Tractor Drivers. By demonstrating the potential of Kierkegaardian analysis in these character studies, I show that Kierkegaard may have a future place in the field of Soviet studies after all

Confidence and Constraint: Public Opinion, Judicial Independence, and the Roberts Court

This Article uses statistical models to show the relationship between public opinion of the Supreme Court and the Court’s propensity to invalidate federal laws on constitutional grounds. Merril, Conway, and Ura analyze this connection to underscore the loss of judicial independence as a result of declining public opinion. The authors note this decline in public opinion allows the President and Congress to leverage public opinion against the Court in order to influence whether a federal law will be invalidated