CAD of Stacked Patch Antennas Through Multipurpose Admittance Matrices From FEM and Neural Networks

In this work, a novel computer-aided design methodology for probe-fed, cavity-backed, stacked microstrip patch antennas is proposed. The methodology incorporates the rigor of a numerical technique, such as finite element methods, which, in turn, makes use of a newly developed procedure (multipurpose admittance matrices) to carry out a full-wave analysis in a given structure in spite of certain physical shapes and dimensions not yet being established. With the aid of this technique, we form a training set for a neural network, whose output is the desired response of the antenna according to the value of design parameters. Last, taking advantage of this neural network, we perform a global optimization through a genetic algorithm or simulated annealing to obtain a final design. The proposed methodology is validated through a real design whose numerical results are compared with measurements with good agreement

In Defence of No Best World

Recent work in the philosophy of religion has resurrected Leibniz’s idea that there is a best possible world, perhaps ours. In particular, Klaas Kraay’s [2010] construction of a theistic multiverse and Nevin Climenhaga’s [2018] argument from infinite value theory are novel defenses of a best possible world. I do not think that there is a best world, and show how both Kraay and Climenhaga may be resisted. First, I argue that Kraay’s construction of a theistic multiverse can be resisted from plausible assumptions about set theory. Next, I argue against the value-theoretic assumptions that underlie Climenhaga’s argument and show how to give an infinite value theory where there is no best world

Higgs inflation and vacuum stability

Inflation is nowadays a well-established paradigm consistent with all the observations. The precise nature of the inflaton is however unknown and its role could be played by any candidate able to imitate a scalar condensate in the slow-roll regime. The discovery of a fundamental scalar in the LHC provides the less speculative candidate. Could the Higgs field itself be responsible for inflation? Do we really need to advocate new physics to explain the properties of the Universe at large scales? Which is the relation between the Standard Model parameters and the inflationary observables? What happens if our vacuum becomes unstable below the scale of inflation? We present an overview of Higgs inflation trying to provide answers to the previous questions with special emphasis on the vacuum stability issue.Comment: 11 pages, 14 figures, contribution to proceedings DISCRETE 201

Spectroscopic Properties and STM Images of Carbon Nanotubes

We present a theoretical study of the role of the local environment in the electronic properties of carbon nanotubes: isolated single- and multi-wall nanotubes, nanotube-ropes, tubes supported on gold and cutted to finite length. Interaction with the substrate or with other tubes does not alter the scanning-tunneling-microscopy (STM) patterns observed for isolated tubes. STM-topographic images of topological defects (pentagon/heptagon pair) and tube-caps have also been studied. In both cases the obtained image depends on the sign of the applied voltage and it can be described in terms of the previous catalog of STM-images (interference between electronic waves scattered by the defect). We also have computed the electronic density of states for isolated tubes with different chiralities and radii confirming a correlation between the peak-structure in the DOS and the nanotube diameter, however the metallic plateau in the DOS also depends on the nanotube chirality. Furthermore, the conduction and valence band structures are not fully symmetrical to one another. In contrast to STM images, the interaction with the substrate does modify the energy levels of the nanotube. We observe opening of small pseudogaps around the Fermi level and broadening of the sharp van Hove singularities of the isolated single-walled-nanotubes that can be used to extract useful information about the tube structure and bonding. The combination of STM and spectroscopic studies opens a new technique to address the electronic and structural properties of carbon and composite nanotubes.Comment: 9 pages, 8 eps figures. Applied Physics A (in press

On the Gelfand property for complex symmetric pairs

We first prove, for pairs consisting of a simply connected complex reductive group together with a connected subgroup, the equivalence between two different notions of Gelfand pairs. This partially answers a question posed by Gross, and allows us to use a criterion due to Aizenbud and Gourevitch, and based on Gelfand-Kazhdan's theorem, to study the Gelfand property for complex symmetric pairs. This criterion relies on the regularity of the pair and its descendants. We introduce the concept of a pleasant pair, as a means to prove regularity, and study, by recalling the classification theorem, the pleasantness of all complex symmetric pairs. On the other hand, we prove a method to compute all the descendants of a complex symmetric pair by using the extended Satake diagram, which we apply to all pairs. Finally, as an application, we prove that eight out of the twelve exceptional complex symmetric pairs, together with the infinite family $(\textrm{Spin}_{4q+2}, \textrm{Spin}_{4q+1})$, satisfy the Gelfand property, and state, in terms of the regularity of certain symmetric pairs, a sufficient condition for a conjecture by van Dijk and a reduction of a conjecture by Aizenbud and Gourevitch.Comment: Presentation and arguments improved in Sections 5.1 and 5.2. Typos and small mistakes fixe

Novel polyhydroxyalkanoate beads for use as a vaccine against tuberculosis : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Microbiology at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand

Tuberculosis was in 1993 declared as a re-emerging disease by the World Health Organization. The only vaccine currently available, BCG, an attenuated strain of Mycobacterium bovis, does not protect adults against the pulmonary disease, which is the form of transmission. New vaccine candidates are being developed to provide protection against tuberculosis. Subunit vaccines offer a safer alternative than whole cell preparations and provide the possibility of utilizing only the components that mediate protective immune responses. This thesis describes the production of bacterially derived polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) beads for use as a delivery system for Mycobacterium tuberculosis reverse vaccinology antigens and immune modulators. In the first study, the immunogenicity of beads derived from an endotoxin-free host, Clear coli, displaying M. tuberculosis antigens Rv1626, Rv2032 and Rv1789 was evaluated in mice. Beads displaying Rv1626 were selected for further studies based on the magnitude and specificity of the immune response elicited. In a final study, the immune modulators Cpe30, CS.T3378-395 and Flagellin were co-displayed with Rv1626 antigen on beads and the immunogenicity of these functionalised beads evaluated in mice. Vaccinations with Rv1626 beads and the immune modulators Cpe30 and CS. T3378-395 induced a Th1/Th17 skewed immune response. These beads were then assessed for their ability to protect mice against aerosol challenge with Mycobacterium bovis. Rv1626 beads reduced the bacterial loads in 0.48 log10 compared with the negative control group but the inclusion of immune modulators did not enhance the immunogenicity or protection induced by Rv1626 beads. This study has demonstrated the potential of PHA beads delivering a single reverse vaccinology antigen for protection against tuberculosis infection in mice. While the co-display of immune modulators did not improve the protection induced by the antigen, further studies are needed to determine optimal doses for delivery of immune modulators to enhance protective immunity

Women in Europe and in the world: The state of the Union 2016

Building on the definition of oppression developed by the philosopher Iris Young, the article argues that women in Europe are an oppressed group. Relying on recent statistics, it points out that a high percentage of women are still subject to gender violence; economically exploited and marginalized; powerless with regard to governance and participation in the public sphere, as well as victims of androcentrism—a pattern of cultural evaluation which seriously undermines women’s potential for development. The article then shows how this state of affairs has worsened over the last years, under the effects of the financial and economic crisis, and the austerity policies with which the European states have responded. Finally, it singles out two possible future scenarios. If the current neo-liberal trends persist, we can expect a move towards societies more polarized in terms of class and ethnicity; low fertility rates; and an increasing poverty of those most in need of care and in charge of care provision. The crisis could instead be perceived as an opportunity to diverge from this prevailing neo-liberal model, calling for a new, inclusive, societal model of development—a new humanism which puts the person, in her whole complexity and in her very real care dependent nature, at the very core of the political and economic project