Resistance Performances: (Re)constructing Spaces of Resistance and Contention in the 2010-2011 University of Puerto Rico Student Movement

On the night of April 20, 2010, a group of students from the University of Puerto Rico (UPR), Río Piedras campus, met to organize an indefinite strike that quickly broadened into a defense of accessible public higher education of excellence as a fundamental right and not a privilege. Although the history of student activism in the UPR can be traced back to the early 1900s, the 2010-2011 strike will be remembered for the student activists’ use of new media technologies as resources that rapidly prompted and aided the numerous protests. This activist research entailed a critical ethnography and a critical discourse analysis (CDA) of traditional and alternative media coverage and treatment during the 2010 -2011 UPR student strike. I examined the use of the 2010-2011 UPR student activists’ resistance performances in constructing local, corporeal, and virtual spaces of resistance and contention during their movement. In particular, I analyzed the different tactics and strategies of resistance or repertoire of collective actions that student activists used (e.g. new media technologies) to frame their collective identities via alternative news media’s (re)presentation of the strike, while juxtaposing the university administration’s counter-resistance performances in counter-framing the student activists’ collective identity via traditional news media representations of the strike. I illustrated how both traditional and alternative media (re)presentations of student activism developed, maintained, and/or modified students activists’ collective identities. As such, the UPR student activism’s success should not be measured by the sum of demands granted, but by the sense of community achieved and the establishment of networks that continue to create resistance and change. These networks add to the debate surrounding Internet activism and its impact on student activism. Ultimately, the results of this study highlight the important role student movements have had in challenging different types of government policies and raising awareness of the importance of an accessible public higher education of excellence.

Optimizing the radiation pattern of smart antennas using genetic algorithms

This work is directed towards optimizing the radiation pattern of smart antennas using genetic algorithms. The structure of the smart antennas based on Space Division Multiple Access (SDMA) is proposed. It is composed of adaptive antennas, each of which has adjustable weight elements for amplitudes and phases of signals. The corresponding radiation pattern formula available for the utilization of numerical optimization techniques is deduced. Genetic algorithms are applied to search the best phase-amplitude weights or phase-only weights with which the optimal radiation pattern can be achieved. ^ One highlight of this work is the proposed optimal radiation pattern concept and its implementation by genetic algorithms. The results show that genetic algorithms are effective for the true Signal-Interference-Ratio (SIR) design of smart antennas. This means that not only nulls can be put in the directions of the interfering signals but also simultaneously main lobes can be formed in the directions of the desired signals. The optimal radiation pattern of a smart antenna possessing SDMA ability has been achieved. ^ The second highlight is on the weight search by genetic algorithms for the optimal radiation pattern design of antennas having more than one interfering signal. The regular criterion for determining which chromosome should be kept for the next step iteration is modified so as to improve the performance of the genetic algorithm iteration. The results show that the modified criterion can speed up and guarantee the iteration to be convergent. ^ In addition, the comparison between phase-amplitude perturbations and phase-only perturbations for the radiation pattern design of smart antennas are carried out. The effects of parameters used by the genetic algorithm on the optimal radiation pattern design are investigated. Valuable results are obtained. ^

Blurring the lines between public and private spaces in residential design

This thesis explores the role of public space as an integral part of residential design to promote a sense of community, where neighbors can congregate and children can play in safety. ^ Through research and analysis of successful public spaces, I evaluated relationships between dwellings and public spaces that offer progressive levels of privacy, and between indoor and outdoor spaces. Further research of published studies on child development, human behavior and relationships with nature identified a human preference for natural environments, a need for adequate recreation space for children's development and the potential of open spaces to build a strong sense of community. ^ My project develops multiple transitional spaces between the street and the interior of dwellings that provide varying degrees of privacy closely related to the community's green spaces. The result is a community-oriented pedestrian environment that encourages family and community values and contributes to the healthy living of its residents without depriving them of their privacy. ^

Revolutionaries in Space? A Counter-Review of Interstellar

Should the radical Left interpret the Nolans' Interstellar as a tribute to (neo)liberal expansionism or should we view it as a cautionary tale about a future that is just around the corner, which won't be solved by worm holes or time travel? This review takes the latter position against the recent Jacobin review, which argues the former. Here, I show that Interstellar can be productively reinterpreted as a film about a series of things that will NOT save us from our-late-capitalist-selves.