Sexing up the international

This thesis takes sexuality as its subject matter and uses a methodology informed by postcolonial studies to explore new possibilities for thinking about the international, its construction, and its contemporary politics. I argue that postcolonial readings of sexuality can impel us to rethink the meanings and politics of international theory and to challenge notions that have come to appear fixed and unchanging. The thesis canvasses how such an intervention might occur – calling especially for a focus on the local and the everyday – and considers both the utility and the limits of the contributions sexuality might make to a rethinking of international theory. My arguments are made with reference to a series of specific examples from contemporary East and Southeast Asia: the nationalistically imbued gendered and sexed figures of the national serviceman and the Singapore Girl in Singapore; the political and social repercussions of the trial of former Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on charges of sodomy; newly emerging homosexual identities in Hong Kong; and the connections between sexuality and disease that inform the Thai response to HIV/AIDS. These case studies exemplify some of the ways in which sexuality can work to recast traditional scholarly understandings of the international. They also illuminate a series of aspects that shape the encounter between sexuality and the international, encompassing issues of nationalism, globalization, metaphor, spatiality and knowledge politics. Through my analysis of these issues, I argue for a broadening out of the source materials that inform knowledge about the international and the pursuit of alternative modes of reading processes of international change and exchange. I contend that scholarship of the international needs to pay more attention to instances where the borders separating everyday, national and international spaces break down, and where we might detect new forms of knowledge about the nature, politics and functioning of the international realm

Efficient Numerical Analysis of a Periodic Structure of Multistate Unit Cells

Application of the synthetic function expansion (SFX) algorithm to the analysis of active 1- and 2D periodic structures is presented. The single unit cell consisting of a microstrip line loaded by patches positioned below the line is turned into an active structure by inserting a pair of 2 switches to the two ends of each patch; the states of the pair of switches are changed contemporaneously. Variation of the states of the switches modifies the current distribution on the structure. The tunable multistate unit cell is arranged in 24-, 120-, and 9 × 24 element configurations and numerically analyzed. The computational complexity required for the characterization of the large number of possible configurations is lightened by the use of the proposed numerical method

Mutual Coupling Analysis for a SKA1-LOW Station

The modelling of the antenna patterns represents one of the main challenges for the instrumental calibration of radio telescopes composed by antennas randomly distributed. In this work, the electromagnetic characterization of a single station of the low-frequency instrument of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope operating from 50 to 350 MHz is reported. The station is assumed to be composed by Log Periodic antennas. The effects of mutual coupling on the complex embedded element patterns and on the array beam are investigated by means of a full-wave electromagnetic analysis. The accuracy of a simplified, mutual coupling-free approach is presented as well

Electromagnetic modelling of the SKA-LOW AAVS1.5 prototype

The numerical modelling of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Aperture Array Verification System Version 1.5 is discussed. The role of this SKA prototype is placed within the perspective of the overall SKA project. The dual-polarized log-periodic SKALA4.1 antenna elements comprising a station are briefly described, along with some considerations regarding the station. Computational simulation aspects are considered, and preliminary results shown. An appraisal of the implications for station-level calibration concludes the paper

Electromagnetic modelling of the SKA-LOW AAVS2 prototype

The computational electromagnetic modelling of a large radio telescope prototype array for the Square Kilometer Array is described. The numerical models, using the Method of Moments, are characterised by a very large number of unknowns, requiring the use of fast solution methods and high performance computing platforms. Good agreement has been obtained between results obtained on two different commercial codes. Results for both embedded element patterns and the station beam are shown. The use of the computed embedded element patterns for array calibration is briefly addressed

Advanced acceleration techniques for full-wave analysis of electrically large arrays based on Method of Moments

Full-wave modelling of electrically large antenna arrays has been one of the most challenging tasks for standard numerical techniques. Integral Equation (IE)approach is fully appropriate for the analysis of complex antenna systems. Nevertheless it is well known that standard techniques are limited by the computational efforts This paper reviews recent developments in the frame of advanced acceleration algorithms for MoM based full-wave solver