Linear magnetic flux amplifier

By measuring the critical current versus the applied magnetic field $I_c(\Phi)$ of an Al superconducting loop enclosing a soft Permalloy magnetic dot, we demonstrate that it is feasible to design a linear magnetic flux amplifier for applications in superconducting quantum interference devices. The selected dimensions of a single-domain Permalloy dot provide that the preferential orientation of the magnetization is rotated from the perpendicular direction. By increasing an applied magnetic field, the magnetization of the dot coherently rotates towards the out-of-plane direction, thus providing a flux gain and an enhancement of the sensitivity. As a result of a pronounced shape anisotropy, the flux gain generated by the dot can be tuned by adjusting the dimensions of the dot.Comment: to appear in Applied Physics Letter

Zones of violence: Serb women inside the siege of Sarajevo

This dissertation explores a silenced history of violence that took place inside the 1992 to 1995 siege of Sarajevo, when the city was held under attack by Bosnian Serb forces (the Army of Republika Srpska, or VRS, Vojska Republike Srpske). Inside the siege, Serbs came to be associated with the ethnic aggressor, and faced violent retribution. I conceptualize the retributive violence inside the siege as an internal “zone of violence” that was made possible by the much larger external zone of VRS aggression. Today, the siege’s internal zone of violence remains a well-kept public secret, too contentious to commemorate. This research is based on one year of fieldwork in Sarajevo and over 60 interviews with 23 Bosnian Serb women who lived through the siege. It is divided into two parts. Part one offers an oral history of the siege’s internal zone of violence from the perspective of Bosnian Serb women. I describe their social decline from “neighbours” to “aggressors” inside the siege, a moral shift that made retributive violence thinkable, and permissible. Part two offers an ethnographic account of the afterlife of this silenced history of violence, as Bosnian Serb women navigate a fraught post-war ethno-moral landscape. This research makes two interventions. First, it unsettles the victim-perpetrator dichotomy, focusing attention onto a segment of post-war society about whom we know very little: victims on the side of the perpetrator. Second, it provides empirical data about an often overlooked dimension of war: the complicity of civilian women, describing how a minority of Bosnian Serb women supported the besieging army, even as they suffered its violence. I make a case for “opening up” the victim-perpetrator dichotomy in order to recognize complex subject positions that blur the line between “pure” victims or “pure” perpetrators. Asking what is at stake for post-conflict societies when recognition is withheld from such “impure victims,” I argue for the importance of recognizing suffering on the side of the perpetrator

The Eastward Expansion of the European Union: Perspectives from University Students in Belgrade, Serbia

This thesis explores how the eastward expansion of the European Union (EU) affects the lives and identities of university students in Belgrade, Serbia, a post-socialist, post-conflict, and non-EU country. This study involved qualitative interviews of 17 students aged 20 to 30, a generation that grew up during the 1990s when the Yugoslav secession wars made Serbia isolated from Western Europe politically and economically. A central question of this project is what it means to live in a non-EU state in Europe as the EU expands to include more post-socialist and Eastern European states. This study finds that participants tend to identify as belonging in Europe despite Serbia’s geopolitical position on the outside of the EU, and explores how the issues of emplacement and exclusion affect participants’ perceptions of everyday life in Belgrade as they compare it to how they imagine life to be like in the EU

Functional observers for motion control systems

This paper presents a novel functional observer for motion control systems to provide higher accuracy and less noise in comparison to existing observers. The observer uses the input current and position information along with the nominal parameters of the plant and can observe the velocity, acceleration and disturbance information of the system. The novelty of the observer is based on its functional structure that can intrinsically estimate and compensate the un-measured inputs (like disturbance acting on the system) using the measured input current. The experimental results of the proposed estimator verifies its success in estimating the velocity, acceleration and disturbance with better precision than other second order observers

BLAME ATTRIBUTION IN RAPE CRIMES: THE EFFECTS OF WILLING SUBSTANCE USE, RACE, AND RAPE MYTH ACCEPTANCE

Rape is a highly prevalent crime, and it is one of the most severe traumatic events experienced by women. Previous researchers have found that, unlike other crimes, blame attribution in rape cases is inconsistent and influenced by many external elements (Bieneck & Krahe, 2011; Grubb & Turner, 2012; Masser, Lee, & McKimmie, 2010; Stewart & Jacquin, 2010). In this study, the influence of willing substance use and race on attribution of blame from a sample of 316 undergraduate students attending a large, Southeastern, public, urban university was examined. More specifically, results from this investigation described how the type of substance (alcohol, marijuana, and heroin) consumed by female survivors and survivors’ race/ethnicity (Black, Hispanic, and White) influenced the level of blame assigned to them. Additionally, the researcher explored the interactive effect of the drug type and survivors’ race. The results of the analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that both survivors’ substance use and race significantly influenced blame attribution. Survivors who consumed alcohol prior to the assault were blamed more than survivors who used heroin or marijuana and survivors who did not consume any substances. Regarding the influence of survivors’ race/ethnicity, White female survivors were attributed significantly higher levels of blame than Black and Hispanic female survivors. In addition to the examined conditions of substance use and race/ethnicity, the results of this study indicated that observers’ demographic characteristics influenced blame attribution as well. Observers’ gender, race, and knowledge of a person who has survived rape were all significant factors effecting attribution of blame

High precision motion control of parallel robots with imperfections and manufacturing tolerances

This work attempts to achieve precise motion control using parallel robots with manufacturing tolerances and inaccuracies by migrating the measurements from their joint space to task space in order to decrease control system’s sensitivity to any kinematical uncertainty rather than calibrating the parallel plant. The problem of dynamical model uncertainties and its effect on the derivation of the control law is also addressed in this work through disturbance estimation and compensation. Eventually, both task space measurement and disturbance estimation are combined to formulate a control framework that is unsensitive to either kinematical and dynamical system uncertainties

Innovation in China: A qualitative research

This study aims to examine the topic of innovation in China. The need for innovative development is of importance for the nation to keep the rapid development. A few evaluations of both Chinas indigenous innovation policy and the opportunities for the citizens to develop innovation has criticized the lack of creativity in human resources and the examination based education system to be harmful for the development of innovation. To question these critiques interviews were conducted with seven people, who are engaged working with innovation in China. The personal opinions based in experience in the field of innovation and their involvement in China as R&D consultant, professor of strategy and Innovation, director of research center, program director of R&D executive program, General Manager, program development manager and Engineering Manager. The results were compared and analyzed into themes. The findings indicated that there is a complex relationship of factors that promotes or hinders innovation in different organizations. The results were than analyzed through the sociological theory of agency and structure by Anthony Giddens. Social structures has impact of on creativity and innovation and how the network of people available influence the outcome of innovations to be available for implementation. The most important finding is the importance of creating incentives for the individual in different areas of society and different types of innovation is not necessarily hindered by the examination based education system or lack or creativity n human resources. Innovation can be nurtured by the right organizations