The sexuality assemblage: Desire, affect, anti-humanism

Two theoretical moves are required to resist the ‘humanist enticements’ associated with sexuality. Post-structuralism supplies the first, showing how the social produces culturally-specific sexual knowledgeabilities. A second anti-humanist move is then needed to overturn anthropocentric privileging of the human body and subject as the locus of sexuality. In this paper we establish a language and landscape for a Deleuze inspired anti-humanist sociology of sexuality that shifts the location of sexuality away from bodies and individuals. Sexuality in this view is an impersonal affective flow within assemblages of bodies, things, ideas and social institutions, which produces sexual (and other) capacities in bodies. Assemblages territorialise bodies’ desire, setting limits on what it can do: this process determines the shape of sexuality, which is consequently both infinitely variable and typically highly restricted. We illustrate how this anti-humanist ontology may be applied to empirical data to explore sexualityassemblages, and conclude by exploring the theoretical and methodological advantages and disadvantages of an anti-humanist assemblage approach to sexuality

Efficiency enhancement of dual-mode traveling wave tubes at saturation and in the linear range by use of spent-beam refocusing and multistage depressed collectors

An axisymmetric, multistage depressed collector of fixed geometric design was evaluated in conjunction with an octave-bandwidth, dual-mode TWT. The TWT was operated over a wide range of conditions to simulate different applications. The collector was operated in three-, four-, and five-stage configurations, and its performance was optimized (within the constraint of fixed geometric design) over the range of TWT operating conditions covered. For operation of the dual-mode TWT at and near saturation, the collectors increased the TWT overall efficiency by a factor of 2 1/2 to 3 1/2. Collector performance was relatively constant for both the high and low TWT modes and for operation of the TWT across an octave bandwidth. For operation of the TWT in the linear, low-distortion range, collector efficiencies of 90 percent and greater were obtained, leading to a five- to twelvefold increase in the TWT overall efficiency for the range of operating conditions covered and reasonably high (greater than 25 percent) overall efficiencies well below saturation

Efficiency enhancement of octave-bandwidth TWT's by the use of multistage depressed collectors

A small size two and four stage depressed collector was evaluated in conjunction with a 4.8 to 9.6 GHz traveling wave tube of 325 to 675 W power output. In spite of large fixed traveling wave tube losses, very significant efficiency enhancement was demonstrated with both the two and four stage multistage depressed collectors (MDC). The improvement in the overall efficiency ranged from a factor of 2.5 to 3.0 for the two stage MDC and a factor of 3.0 to 3.5 for the four stage MDC. An overall efficiency of 37.0 to 44.3 percent across the frequency band was demonstrated with the use of harmonic injection

Multistage depressed collector with efficiency of 90 to 94 percent for operation of a dual-mode traveling wave tube in the linear region

An axisymmetric, multistage, depressed collector of fixed geometric design was evaluated in conjunction with an octave bandwidth, dual mode traveling wave tube (TWT). The TWT was operated over a wide range of conditions to simulate different applications. The collector performance was optimized (within the constraint of fixed geometric design) over the range of TWT operating conditions covered. For operation of the TWT in the linear, low distortion range, 90 percent and greater collector efficiencies were obtained leading to TWT overall efficiencies of 20 to 35 percent, as compared with 2 to 5 percent with an undepressed collector. With collectors of this efficiency and minimized beam interception losses, it becomes practical to design dual mode TWT's such that the low mode can represent operation well below saturation. Consequently, the required pulse up in beam current can be reduced or eliminated, and this mitigates beam control and dual mode TWT circuit design problems. For operation of the dual mode TWT at saturation, average collector efficiencies in excess of 85 percent were obtained for both the low and high modes across an octave bandwidth, leading to a three to fourfold increase in the TWT overall efficiency

Does It Really Suck?: The Impact of Cutting-Edge Marketing Tactics on Internet Trademark Law and Gripe Site Domain Name Disputes

International audienc

Multi-Task Policy Search for Robotics

© 2014 IEEE.Learning policies that generalize across multiple tasks is an important and challenging research topic in reinforcement learning and robotics. Training individual policies for every single potential task is often impractical, especially for continuous task variations, requiring more principled approaches to share and transfer knowledge among similar tasks. We present a novel approach for learning a nonlinear feedback policy that generalizes across multiple tasks. The key idea is to define a parametrized policy as a function of both the state and the task, which allows learning a single policy that generalizes across multiple known and unknown tasks. Applications of our novel approach to reinforcement and imitation learning in realrobot experiments are shown

Spiral Growth Manufacturing (SGM) – A Continuous Additive Manufacturing Technology for Processing Metal Powder by Selective Laser Melting

Spiral growth manufacturing is a new innovative powder based rapid manufacturing technique. The innovation exists in the methodology in which powder layers are deposited. Unlike other pre-placed powder systems, the deposited layers move relative to the location at which they are processed. This is made possible by a rotating build drum into which powder is deposited, in spiralled layers, from a stationary hopper. With this configuration powder can be continuously deposited and levelled and simultaneously processed, eliminating delays in the build cycle. Stainless steel and cobalt-chrome powder is selectively melted using a 100W flash lamp pumped Nd:YAG laser. This paper reports on factors affecting build rate and on build strategies for creating a number of axis-symmetric thin and thick walled cylinders. Experimental results suggest that build rate for thin walled structures bonded to a substrate will ultimately be governed by tangential movements of the powder particles when frictional forces are not sufficient to accelerate the particles along a curved path, provided that enough laser power is available for melting. Even melt pool balling, which is evident when melting one layer at high speeds, diminishes in multiple layer builds due to re-melting and infilling.Mechanical Engineerin

Treatment Outcomes for At-Risk Young Children With Behavior Problems: Toward a New Definition of Success

This study examined the outcomes of Early Pathways (EP), an in-home parent–child therapy program with 447 at-risk children younger than 5 years of age who were referred for severe behavior and emotional problems, such as aggression, oppositional behavior, and separation anxiety. EP emphasized parent-directed training of child behavior strategies including psychoeducation regarding child development, child-led play, and cognitive-behavioral techniques. Outcomes were assessed using a unique 2-dimensional definition of treatment completion, which consisted of treatment duration and an assessment of reliable change for the primary outcome measure of child behavior problems. Results showed that the majority of children (63.4%) met or exceeded treatment completion. In addition, repeated-measures multivariate analyses of variance at pretest, posttest, and follow-up revealed increased child prosocial behaviors, reduced child behavior problems, improved caregiver nurturing, an increase in parents’ developmentally appropriate expectations of children, improved parent–child relationships, and a decrease in clinical diagnoses following treatment. This study offers guidance for developing effective early-intervention services for families in poverty to enhance outcomes for their young children. Along with its existing large-scale, community-based effectiveness studies, future research should establish additional statistical support including a randomized, waitlist control design of EP