Journal articles on the topic 'ASYMMETRICAL FUZZY LOGIC CONTROL (AFLC)'

This paper presents an approach for optimum reactive power dispatch through the power network with flexible AC transmission systems (FACTSs) devices, using adaptive fuzzy logic controller (AFLC) driven by adaptive fuzzy sets (AFSs). The membership functions of AFLC are optimized based on 2nd-order fuzzy set specifications. The operation of FACTS devices (particularly, static VAR compensator (SVC)) and the setting of their control parameters (QSVC) are optimized dynamically based on the proposed AFLC to enhance the power system stability in addition to their main function of power flow control. The proposed AFLC is compared with a static fuzzy logic controller (SFLC), driven by a fixed fuzzy set (FFS). Simulation studies were carried out and validated on the standard IEEE 30-bus test system.

Intelligent Universal Transformer (IUT) will comprise in Advanced Distribution Automation (ADA) with a new invention in control and management in future. It evolves with a high speed traditional transformer in addition to power electronic base construction will eventuate to oil elimination, dimensional size and weight reduction. Adaptive Fuzzy Logic Control (AFLC) is an adaptive progressed method with the high system performance capability being raised even on the uncertainty conditions. It enhances system stability, improves flexibility and releases designers from precise mathematical model utilization. Expert designer Knowledge is a critical requirement for conventional fuzzy logic controller (FLC), in contrast the AFLC rules and parameters are generated by adaptive model and human knowledge will downright initialize the first parameters values. In this approach four layers IUT topology is considered for developing the end user service options as 48V DC, reliable power as 240V AC 400HZ and three phase power option. AFLC schemes are proposed for employing current and voltage controllers in input output stages. Real time voltage regulation, automatic sag correction, Harmonic Filtering, energy storage option and dynamic system monitoring are the resulting benefits of using IUT four layers topology. AFLC methodology, leading the system robustness in any cases of grid and load disturbances.

Efficient control of liquid level - in a carbonization column (CCl) of soda ash production plants - is a difficult task because the plants are nonlinear, subjected to disturbances and lack a reliable mathematical model. To attain such efficient control, model-free fuzzy logic controllers (FLC) based on empirical knowledge are successfully developed and implemented, and adaptation mechanisms are added to aid the FLC tuning and compensate for plant changes. However, the stability analysis - of the adaptive FLC (AFLC) systems - is a critical issue that needs addressing. For this reason, the current investigation is devoted to the development of a method for analyzing AFLC system stability using robust stability and robust performance criteria. The suggested method is employed for the stability analysis of a designed PID AFLC utilized for liquid level control in an industrial CCl. The obtained results reveal that the AFLC preserves stability and high system performance in the whole range of adaptation and considered changes of the plant and the operation conditions. Moreover, the results unveil that the developed method can also be applied for the design of a robust FLC system that competes with adaptive counterparts.

For amelioration of tracking efficiency, the Maximum power point trackers (MPPT) are very important for photovoltaic (PV) generation. For this purpose here a reformed adaptive fuzzy logic control (FLC) MPPT tracker has been presented to enhance its overall power efficiency and gives rapid transient response under changing weather conditions. For voltage regulation at load bus, the zeta buck-boost converter has been taken for its least voltage ripple. MATLAB/SIMULINK simulation environment and dSPACE DS1104 real time control board is used to test the proposed adaptive fuzzy logic controller based MPPT in variable irradiance level and ambient tempera-ture. The tracking efficiency in this presented method is analyzed in comparison with standard fuzzy logic controller (FLC) and perturb and observe (P and O) MPPT algorithms. The modified AFLC controller gives better tracking efficiency and precise response compared to conventional fuzzy logic controller and P and O MPPT algorithms. Theoretical and experimental results obtained are demonstrated for improved functioning of the system.

Renewable Energy Resources plays an active role in standing against global warming and reduce the use of conventional energy sources. Hybrid systems formed by combining the renewable energy sources are efficient relatively. The intent of this paper is to furnish endurable power for frontier and far-off places with hybrid-system of architecture. The intended system embodying DFIG and solar PV based wind turbine. In solar systems, control mechanism is essential for improving the performance. This paper proposes a method of incremental conductance approach based MPPT Adaptive Fuzzy Logic Controller for grid connected PV system which is composed of a boost converter and a three phase inverter. Adaptive Fuzzy Logic Controller provides fast response and better %THD compared to Fuzzy and PI controllers. In solar system, MPPT will magnify solar output power value. The DFIG has two controllers Grid-Side Control (GSC) and Rotor-Side Control (RSC). The rated rotor speed and DC-link voltage are regulated by RSC and GSC through PI, Fuzzy Logic Controller and AFLC strategies. By using simulation studies performed by three control strategies, %THD analysis is carried out.

Three phases Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motors (PMSM) are non-linear resistors, resistance of stator winding, air gap flux, cross-coupling, saturation variable times and cogging torque in operation. Due to the nonlinear nature of PMSM, it is a challenge to control exactly the speed, torque and position. This paper presents two methods for speed control stabilization of the PMSM using the Adaptive Fuzzy Logic - Proportional Integral Derivative controller (AFL-PID) and Adaptive Particle Swarm Optimization - Proportional Integral Derivative controller (APSO-PID). The response results of the speed control PMSM Servo Systems use AFLC-PID and APSO-PID methods are compared and the conclusions are given.

Possible cases of non-fulfilment of the requirements of the necessary sensitivity and the selectivity of the existing protection against incomplete-phase and asymmetric modes in the electrical network under conditions of uncertainty of the initial data are determined. The paper considers the issue of intellectualization of protection from asymmetric modes based on theories of fuzzy logic, as well as machine learning models, and offers a structural diagram and an algorithm for the functioning of protection. The results of the synthesis of intelligent protection and an approach to modelling and control for controlled drive systems based on reinforcement learning are presented.

Non-holonomic wheeled robots (NWR) comprise a type of robotic system; they use wheels for movement and offer several advantages over other types. They are efficient, highly, and maneuverable, making them ideal for factory automation, logistics, transportation, and healthcare. The control of this type of robot is complicated, due to the complexity of modeling, asymmetrical non-holonomic constraints, and unknown perturbations in various applications. Therefore, in this study, a novel type-3 (T3) fuzzy logic system (FLS)-based controller is developed for NWRs. T3-FLSs are employed for modeling, and the modeling errors are considered in stability analysis based on the symmetric Lyapunov function. An observer is designed to detect the error, and its effect is eliminated by a developed terminal sliding mode controller (SMC). The designed technique is used to control a case-study NWR, and the results demonstrate the good accuracy of the developed scheme under non-holonomic constraints, unknown dynamics, and nonlinear disturbances.

The solar energy is directly converted into electrical energy by solar PV module. Each type of PV module has its own specific characteristic corresponding to the surrounding condition such as irradiation, and temperature and this makes the tracking of maximum power point (MPP) a complicated problem. To overcome this problem, many maximum power point tracking (MPPT) control algorithms have been presented. Fuzzy logic (FL) has been used for tracking the MPP of PV modules because it has the advantages of being robust, relatively simple to design and does not require the knowledge of an exact model where a mathematical model of the PV module, DC-DC converter, are used in the study of FL based MPPT algorithm. It is suggested to present this problem in the form of two-folds; first to identify the deviation of the power to maximum power point, and secondly, to control the voltage of the DC-DC converter corresponding to maximum power. In this paper, the first discussion approach will stress out the integration of model predictive control in maximum power point tracking MPPT and as progressing a second approach is identified as fuzzy logic controller FLC and perturb & Observe P&O algorithms are analyzed. All are interrelated to MPPT model for a photovoltaic module, PVM, to search for and generate the maximum power; in this case what’s called P-max. As per the first technique the focus is on the optimal duty ratio, D, for a series of multi diverse types of converters and load matching. The design of the MPPT for a stand-alone photovoltaic power generation system is applied where the system will consist of a solar array with nonlinear time varying characteristics, and a converter with appropriate filters. The integration of model predictive control will be addressed first in this paper. The second fold will implement an MPPT system that use the FLC and compare it with a classical MPPT P&O algorithm through the utilization of Simulink. The novel design in the FLC will be based on the use of asymmetrical membership functions to compensate for the asymmetrical P-V curve of solar panel.

Advanced Chinese Pressurized Water Reactor (ACP1000) is a third generation load following nuclear reactor. ACP1000 is designed to control the reactor power by a sophisticated control rod mechanism under the base load normal operation of a nuclear power plant in Mode-G. To extend the normal operation of ACP1000 for load following condition, boron adjustment control is used in manual configuration. In this research work, model based two new controllers are designed for ACP1000 reactor dynamics. A nonlinear two-point reactor kinetics model is developed for two halves of the reactor core designated as top and bottom of reactor core. Reactor feedbacks model for two-point reactor kinetics model is developed with fuel temperature, moderator temperature, Xenon concentration, G-Bank control rod position, R-Bank control rod position and boron concentration feedbacks under normal operation of ACP1000. Two problems of the large reactor core of ACP1000 are Xenon oscillations and axial offset in core power distribution. To address these problems, two new controllers are designed for normal load following operation of ACP1000. One controller is designed to replace G1-Bank and R-Bank in Mode-G for reactor power control. The second controller is designed to replace G2-Bank in Mode-G for reactivity control and axial power distribution control. Originally, both reactor coolant average temperature controller and reactor power controller were adaptive controllers. Therefore, both new controllers are designed based on an optimized sliding algorithm using a dedicated fractional order sliding mode control oriented adaptive fuzzy logic control (FO-SMC-AFLC) synthesis scheme. The performance of the proposed closed loop controllers is evaluated for design step and ramp power transients. Both proposed controllers are validated against benchmark results reported in Preliminary Safety Analysis Report (PSAR) of ACP1000. The novel control design scheme is proved satisfactory for normal load following operation of ACP1000, and all the results are found well within design limits.

Currently, photovoltaic system has gained importance in electrical power generation system, since it is a clean and renewable energy source. An important characteristic of photovoltaic panels is that the available maximum power is provided only in a single operating point called maximum power point. But the position of maximum power point is not fixed and it moves according to the varying irradiance, varying temperature and the load. This requires a mechanism called maximum power point tracking (MPPT) so that maximum power is obtained effectively. In the literature, many classical methods have been developed and implemented to track the maximum power point. The main objective of this paper is to study and analyze the classical techniques such as Perturb and Observe (P&O), Incremental Conductance (IC) and Fuzzy Logic Control (FLC) algorithms and propose an Adaptive Fuzzy Logic Control (AFLC) for MPPT. The performance of AFLC is compared with the conventional MPPT techniques for varying irradiance. The significance of these methods are studied by implementing the algorithm in MATLAB. The experimental results show the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed method and the results are verified. The results reveal that the adaptive FLC can quickly track change of MPP for various light intensity and delivers higher power compared to the classical algorithms.

In recent years, due to the interconnection of large capacity wind turbines to the power grid lead, there are serious issues in the stability of Grid and generation of electrical power. Also, it is showing effect on the dynamic performance of the electrical power systems. To maintain stability during sudden changes in the grid, the LVRT (Low Voltage Ride Through) capability of the Wind Turbines is one of the prime requirements. Wind turbines attached to DFIG (Doubly Fed Induction Generators) are advantageous which have LVRT capability at limited extent. In this paper, the elaborated discussion of the LVRT of Wind turbines shafted to DFIG's in the Grid. It also presents the complete description of the sudden changes in the systems like transient characteristics and the Doubly Fed Induction Generators dynamic response at the time of grid voltage faults (Symmetrical and Asymmetrical). The latest rotor side control technology is displayed in this paper for DFIG and wind turbines with improved capacity of low voltage ride through at the time of severe grid voltage sags. A Fuzzy Logic controller-based control technology is introduced in this paper which performs the balancing the rotor-side voltage and short circuits during the disturbances in the Grid. The advantage in this proposed control scheme is that it reduces the additional cost and reliability issues. So, the DFIG is efficient and usability company norms are satisfied with the proposed Fuzzy logic controller compared to regular controller like PI controller. The performance of the proposed system is simulated and verified in the computer. The results are displayed and it conclude that the control strategy of LVRT capability for Grid connected DFIG based wind turbine systems with Fuzzy Logic Controller are more effective than the conventional control Methods.

This paper demonstrates the construction, designing analysis and control strategies for electrical faults diagnoses and classification adoptring an intelligent relaying system while supplying power. Relays are installed devices that can be added to any electrical circuit and allow remote wireless control of anything else connected to that circuit.The main purpose of the proposed smart protection system in the current study is to improve the dynamic performance of IEEE 9-Bus network to try to reduce interruptions and power outages due to some emergencies or intended accidents in the electric system through. The installation of a protection system with an intelligent relay using fuzzy logic control to protect the electrical system by separating the parts that have malfunctioned while keeping the parts that did not fault by issuing a disconnection signal or directing the circuit breaker in charge, Therefore, the protection system must be active and resolute by separating the symmetrical and asymmetrical faults from the electrical system and within the local and international standard specifications of the approved protection systems. It is worth noting that the MATLAB program and mathematical simulation, version R2019, were used to demonstrate the performance of the system.

We Break Up, I Publish: Theorising and Emotional Processing like Taylor Swift In 2007 after the rather painful end of my first long-term same-sex relationship I asked myself two questions (and like a good graduate student wrote a paper about it that was subsequently published): (1) what is love; (2) and if love exists, are queer and straight love somehow different. I asked myself the second question because, unlike my previous “straight” breakups (back when I honestly thought I was straight), this one was different, was far more messy, and seemed to have a lot to do with the fact that my then fresh ex-boyfriend and I had dramatically different ideas about how the relationship should look, work, be codified, or if it should or could be codified. It was an eye-opening experience since the truth that these different ideas existed—basically his point of view—really only “came out” in my mind through the act and learning involved in that breakup. Until then, from a Queer Theory perspective, you could have described me as a “man who had sex with men,” called himself homosexual, but was so homonormative that if you’d approached me with even a light version of Michel Foucault’s thoughts on “Friendship as a Way of Life” I’d have looked at you as queerly, and cluelessly, as possible. Mainstream Queer Theory would have put the end of the relationship down to the difference and conflict between what is pejoratively called the “marriage-chasing-Gay-normaliser,” represented by me, and the “radical-Queer(ness)-of-difference” represented by my ex-boyfriend, although like a lot of theory, that misses the personal (which I recall being political...), and a whole host of non-theoretical problems that plagued that relationship. Basically I thought Queer/Homosexual/Lesbian/Transgendered and the rest of the alphabet soup was exactly the same as Straight folks both with respect to a subjective understanding of the self, social relations and formations, and how you acted or enacted yourself in public and private except in the bedroom.. I thought, since Canada had legalised same-sex marriage, all was well and equal (other than the occasional hate-crime which would then be justly punished). Of course I understood that at that point Canada was the exception and not the rule with respect to same-sex rights and same-sex marriage, so it followed in my mind that most of our time collectively should be spent supporting those south of the border or overseas who still faced restrictions on these basic rights, or out-and-out violence, persecution and even state-sanctioned death for just being who they are and/or trying to express it. And now, five years on, stating that Canada is the exception as opposed to the rule with respect to the legalisation of same-sex marriage and the codification of same-sex rights in law has the potential to be outdated as the recent successes of social movements, court rulings and the tenor of political debate and voting has shifted internationally with rapid speed. But it was only because of that breakup that these theoretical and practical issues had come out of my queer closet and for the first time I started to question some necessary link between love and codification (marriage), and how the queer in Queer relationships does or potentially can disrupt this link. And not just for Queers, but for Straight folk too, which is the primary point that should be underlined now and is addressed at the end of this paper. Because, embittered as I was at the time, I still basically agree with the theoretical position that I came to in that paper on love—based on a queering of the terms of Alain Badiou—where I affirmed that love resisted codification, especially in its queer form, because it is fidelity to an act and truth between two or more partners which resists the rigid walls of State-based codification (Potts, Love Hurts; Badiou, Ethics and Saint Paul). But as one of the peer reviewers for this paper rightly pointed out, the above distinctions between my ex and myself implicitly rely upon a State-centric model of rights and freedoms, which I attacked in the first paper, but which I freely admit I am guilty of utilising and arguing in favour of here. But that is because I am interested, here, not in talking about love as an abstract concept towards which we should work in our personal relationships, but as the state of things, and specifically the state of same-sex marriage and the discourse and images which surrounds it, which means that the State does matter. This is specifically so given the lack of meaningful challenges to the State System in Canada and the US. I maintain, following Butler, that it is through power, and our response to the representatives of power “hailing us,” that we become bodies that matter and subjects (Bodies That Matter; The Psychic Life of Power; and Giving An Account of Oneself). While her re-reading of Althusser in these texts argues that we should come to a philosophical and political position which challenges this State-based form of subject creation and power, she also notes that politically and philosophically we have yet to articulate such a position clearly, and I’d say that this is especially the case for what is covered and argued in the mainstream (media) debate on same-sex marriage. So apropos what is arguably Foucault’s most mature analysis of “power,” and while agreeing that my State-based argument for inclusion and rights does indeed strengthen the “biopolitical” (The History of Sexuality 140 and 145) control over, in this case, Queer populations, I argue that this is nonetheless the political reality with which we are working in and analyzing, and that is my concern here. Despite a personal desire that this not be the case, the State or state sanctioned institutions do continue to hold a monopoly of power in conferring subjecthood and rights. To take a page from Jeremy Bentham, I would say that arguing from a position which does not start from or seriously consider the State as the current basis for rights and subjecthood, though potentially less ethically problematic and more in line with my personal politics, is tantamount to talking and arguing about “nonsense on stilts.” “Caught in a Bad Romance?” Comparing Homonationalist Trajectories and the Appeal of Militarist Discourse to LGBT Grassroots Organisations In comparing the discourses and enframings of the debate over same-sex marriage between Canada in the mid 1990s and early 2000s and in the US today, one might presume that how it came to say “I do” in Canada and how it might or might not get “left at the altar” in the US, is the result of very different national cultures. But this would just subscribe to one of a number of “cultural explanations” for perceived differences between Canada and the US that are usually built upon straw-man comparisons which then pillorise the US for something or other. And in doing so it would continue an obscuration that Canada, unlike the US, is unproblematically open and accepting when it comes to multicultural, multiracial and multisexual diversity and inclusion. Which Canada isn’t nor has it ever been. When you look at the current discourse in both countries—by their key political representatives on the international stage—you find the opposite. In the US, you have President Barack Obama, the first sitting President to come out in favour of same-sex marriage, and the Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, setting same-sex rights at home and abroad as key policy planks (Gay Rights are Human Rights). Meanwhile, in Canada, you have Prime Minister Stephen Harper, in office since 2006, openly support his Conservative Party’s “traditional marriage” policy which is thankfully made difficult to implement because of the courts, and John Baird, the badly closeted Minister of Foreign Affairs, who doesn’t mention same-sex rights at home or with respect to foreign relations—unless it is used as supplementary evidence to further other foreign policy goals (c.f. Seguin)—only showing off his sexuality outside of the press-gallery to drum up gay-conservative votes or gay-conservative fundraising at LGBTQ community events which his government is then apt to pull funding for (c.f. Bradshaw). Of course my point is not to just reverse the stereotypes, painting an idyllic picture of the US and a grim one of Canada. What I want to problematise is the supposed national cultural distinctions which are naturalised when arguments are made through them as to why same-sex marriage was legalised in Canada, while the Defense of Marriage Act still stands in the US. To follow and extend Jasbir Puar’s argument from Terrorist Assemblages, what we see in both same-sex marriage debates and discourses is really the same phenomenon, but, so far, with different outcomes and having different manifestations. Puar contends that same-sex rights, like most equalising rights for minority groups, are only granted when all three of the following conditions prevail: (1) in a state or narrative of exception, where the nation grants a minority group equal rights because “the nation” feels threatened from without; (2) only on the condition that normalisation (or homonormalisation in the case of the Queer community) occurs, with those who don’t conform pushed further from a place in the national-subject; (3) and that the price of admission into being the “allowed Queer” is an ultra-patriotic identification with the Nation. In Canada, the state or narrative of exception was an “attack” from within which resulted in the third criterion being downplayed (although it is still present). Court challenges in a number of provinces led in each case to a successful ruling in favour of legalising same-sex marriage. Appeals to these rulings made their way to the Supreme Court, who likewise ruled in favour of the legalisation of same-sex marriage. This ruling came with an order to the Canadian Parliament that it had to change the existing marriage laws and definition of marriage to make it inclusive of same-sex marriage. This “attack” was performed by the judiciary who have traditionally (c.f. Makin) been much less partisan in appointment or ruling than their counterparts in the US. When new marriage laws were proposed to take account of the direction made by the courts, the governing Liberal Party and then Prime Minister Paul Martin made it a “free vote” so members of his own party could vote against it if they chose. Although granted with only lacklustre support by the governing party, the Canadian LGBTQ community rejoiced and became less politically active, because we’d won, right? International Queers flocked to Canada—one in four same-sex weddings since legalisation in Canada have been to out of country residents (Postmedia News)—as long as they had the proper socioeconomic profile (which is also a racialised profile) to afford the trip and wedding. This caused a budding same-sex marriage tourism and queer love normalisation industry to be built around the Canada Queer experience because especially at the time of legalisation Canada was still one of the few countries to allow for same-sex marriages. What this all means is that homonationalism in Canada is much less charged. It manifests itself as fitting in and not just keeping up with the Joneses when it comes to things like community engagement and Parent Teacher Association (PTA) meetings, but trying to do them one better (although only by a bit so as not to offend). In essence, the comparatively bland process in the 1990s by which Canada slowly underwent a state of exception by a non-politically charged and non-radical professional judiciary simply interpreting the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms at the provincial and then the federal level is mirrored in the rather bland and non-radical homonationalism which resulted. So unlike the US, the rhetoric of the LGBT community stays subdued unless there’s a hint that the right to same-sex divorce might get hit by Conservative Party guns, in which case all hell breaks loose (c.f. Ha). While the US is subject to the same set of logics for the currently in-progress enactment of legalising same-sex marriage, the state of exception is dramatically different. Puar argues it is the never-ending War on Terror. This also means that the enframings and debate in the US are exceptionally charged and political, leading to a very different type of homonationalism and homonationalist subject than is found in Canada. American homonationalism has not radically changed from Puar’s description, but due to leadership from the top (Obama, Clinton and Lady Gaga) the intensity and thereby structured confinement of what is an acceptable Queer-American subject has become increasingly rigid. What is included and given rights is the hyper-patriotic queer-soldier, the defender of the nation. And what reinforces the rigidity of what amounts to a new “glass closet” for queers is that grassroots organisations have bought into the same rhetoric, logic, and direction as to how to achieve equality as the Homecoming advertisement from the Equal Love Campaign in Britain shows. For the other long-leading nation engaged in the War on Terror narrative, Homecoming provides the imagery of a gay member of the armed services draped in the flag proposing to his partner at the end of duty overseas that ends with the following text: “All men can be heroes. All men can be husbands. End discrimination.” Can’t get more patriotic—and heteronormative with the use of the term “husbands”—than that. Well, unless you’re Lady Gaga. Now Lady Gaga stands out as a public figure whom has taken an explicitly pro-queer and pro-LGBT stance from the outset of her career. And I do not want to diminish the fact that she has been admirably effective in her campaigning and consistent pro-queer and pro-LGBT stance. While above I characterised her input above as leadership from the top, she also, in effect, by standing outside of State Power unlike Obama and Clinton, and being able to be critical of it, is able to push the State in a more progressive direction. This was most obviously evidenced in her very public criticism of the Democratic Party and President Obama for not moving quickly enough to adopt a more pro-queer and pro-LGBT stance after the 2008 election where such promises were made. So Lady Gaga plays a doubled role whereby she also acts as a spokesperson for the grassroots—some would call this co-opting, but that is not the charge made here as she has more accurately given her pre-existing spotlight and Twitter and Facebook presence over to progressive campaigns—and, given her large mainstream media appeal and willingness to use this space to argue for queer and LGBT rights, performs the function of a grassroots organisation by herself as far as the general public is concerned. And in her recent queer activism we see the same sort of discourse and images utilised as in Homecoming. Her work over the first term of Obama’s Presidency—what I’m going to call “The Lady Gaga Offensive”—is indicative: she literally and metaphorically wrapped herself in the American flag, screaming “Obama, ARE YOU LISTENING!!! Repeal ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ and [have the homophobic soldiers] go home, go home, go home!” (Lady Gaga Rallies for Repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell). And presumably to the same home of otherness that is occupied by the terrorist or anything that falls under the blanket of “anti-American” in Puar’s critique of this approach to political activism. This speech was modelled on her highly successful one at the National Equality March in 2009, which she ended with “Bless God and Bless the Gays.” When the highly watched speeches are taken together you literally can’t top them for Americanness, unless it is by a piece of old-fashioned American apple-pie bought at a National Rifle Association (NRA) bake-sale. And is likely why, after Obama’s same-sex “evolution,” the pre-election ads put out by the Democratic Party this year focused so heavily on the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and the queer patriotic soldier or veteran’s obligation to or previous service in bearing arms for the country. Now if the goal is to get formal and legal equality quickly, then as a political strategy, to get people onside with same-sex marriage, and from that place to same-sex rights and equal social recognition and respect, this might be a good idea. Before, that is, moving on to a strategy that actually gets to the roots of social inequality and doesn’t rely on “hate of ‘the other’” which Puar’s analysis points out is both a byproduct of and rooted in the base of any nationalist based appeal for minoritarian rights. And I want to underline that I am here talking about what strategy seems to be appealing to people, as opposed to arguing an ethically unproblematic and PC position on equality that is completely inclusive of all forms of love. Because Lady Gaga’s flag-covered and pro-military scream was answered by Obama with the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and the extension of some benefits to same-sex couples, and has Obama referring to Gaga as “your leader” in the pre-election ads and elsewhere. So it isn’t really surprising to find mainstream LGBT organisations adopting the same discourse and images to get same-sex rights including marriage. One can also take recent poll numbers from Canada as indicative as well. While only 10 percent of Canadians have trust in political parties, and 17 and 16 percent have trust in Parliament and Prime Minister Harper respectively, a whopping 53 percent have trust in the Canadian Forces (Leblanc). One aspect that undergirds Puar’s argument is that especially at a "time of war," more than average levels of affection or trust is shown for those institutions that defend “us,” so that if the face of that institution is reinscribed to the look of the hyper-patriotic queer-soldier (by advertising of the Homecoming sort which is produced not by the State but by grassroots LGBT organisations), then it looks like these groups seem to be banking that support for Gays and Lesbians in general, and same-sex marriage in specific, will further rise if LGBT and Queer become substantively linked in the imagination of the general public with the armed forces. But as 1980s Rockers Heart Asked: “But There’s Something That You Forgot. What about Love?” What these two homonationalist trajectories and rhetorics on same-sex marriage entirely skip over is how exactly you can codify “love.” Because isn’t that the purpose of marriage? Saying you can codify it is like grasping at a perfectly measured and exact cubic foot of air and telling it to stay put in the middle of a hurricane. So to return to how I ended my earlier exploration of love and if it could or should be codified: it means that as I affirm love, and as I remain in fidelity to it, I subject myself in my fundamental weakness constantly to the "not-known;" to constant heartbreak; to affirmations which I cannot betray as it would be a betrayal of the truth process itself. It's as if at the very moment the Beatles say the words 'All you need is love' they were subjected to wrenching heartbreak and still went on: 'All you need is love...' (Love Hurts) Which is really depressing when I look back at it now. But it was a bad breakup, and I can tend to the morose in word choice and cultural references when depressed. But it also remains essentially my position. If you impose “till death or divorce do us part” on to love you’re really only just participating in the chimera of static love and giving second wind to a patriarchal institution which has had a crappy record when it comes to equality. It also has the potential to preserve asymmetrical roles “traditional marriage” contains from when the institution was only extended to straight couples. And isn’t equality the underlying philosophical principle and political position that we’re supposedly fighting for if we’re arguing for an equal right to get married? Again, it’s important to try and codify the same rights for everyone through the State at the present time because I honestly don’t see major changes confronting the nation state system in Canada or the US in the near future. We remain the play-children of a digitally entrenched form of Foucaultian biopower that is State and Capital directed. Because while the Occupy Wall Street movements got a lot of hay in the press, I’ve yet to see any substantive or mainstreamed political change come out of them—if someone can direct me to their substantive contribution to the recent US election I’d be happy to revise my position—which is likely to our long term detriment. So this is a pragmatic analysis, one of locating one node in the matrices of power relations, of seeing how mainstream LGBT political organisations and Lady Gaga are applying the “theoretical tool kits” given to us by Foucault and Puar, and seeing how these organisations and Gaga are applying them, but in this case in a way that is likely counter to authorial intention(s) and personal politics (Power/Knowledge 145, 193; Terrorist Assemblages). So what this means is that we’re likely to continue to see, in mainstream images of same-sex couples put out by grassroots LGBT organisations, a homonationalism and ideological construction that grows more and more out of touch with Queer realities—the “upper-class house-holding PTA Gay”; although on a positive note I should point out that the Democratic Party in the US seems to be at least including both white and non-white faces in their pre-election same-sex marriage ads—and one that most Queers don’t or can’t fit themselves into especially when it comes down to the economic aspect of that picture, which is contradictory and problematic (c.f. Christopher). It also means that in the US the homonationalism on the horizon looks the same as in Canada except with a healthy dose of paranoia of outsiders and “the other” and a flag draped membership in the NRA, that is, for when the queer super-soldier is not in uniform. It’s a straightjacket for a closet that is becoming smaller because it seeks, through the images projected, inclusion for only a smaller and smaller social sub-set of the Lesbian and Gay community and leaves out more and more of the Queer community than it was five years ago when Puar described it. So instead of trying to dunk the queer into the institution of patriarchy, why not, by showing how so many Queers, their relationships, and their loving styles don’t fit into these archetypes help give everyone, including my “marriage-chasing-Gay-normaliser” former self a little “queer eye, for all eyes.” To look at and see modern straight marriage through the lenses and reasons LGBT and Queer communities (by-and-large) fought for years for access to it: as the codification and breakdown of some rights and responsibilities (i.e. taking care of children); as an act which gives you straightforward access to health benefits and hospital visitation rights; as an easy social signifier for others of a commitment to another person that doesn’t use diluted language like “special friend;” and because when it comes down to it that “in sickness and in health” part of the vow—in the language of a queered Badiou, a vow can be read as the affirmation of a universal and disinterested truth (love) and a moment which can’t be erased retrospectively, say, by divorce—seems like a sincere way to value at least one of those you really care for in the world. And hopefully it, as a side-benefit, it acts as a reminder but is not the actuality of that first fuzzy feeling which (hopefully) doesn’t go away. But I learned my lesson the first time and know that the fuzzy feeling might disappear as it often does. It doesn’t matter how far we try and cram it into any variety of homonationalist closets, since it’ll always find a way to not be there, no matter how tight you thought you’d locked the door to keep it in for good if it wants out. Because you can’t keep emotions by contract: so at the end of the day the logical, ethical and theoretically sound position is to argue for the abolition of marriage as an institution. However, Plato and others have been making that argument for thousands of years, and it still doesn’t seem to have gained popular traction. And we also need to realise, contrary to the opinion of my former self and The Beatles, that you really do need more than love as fidelity to an event of you and your partner’s making when you are being denied your partners health benefits just because you are a same-sex couple, especially when those health benefits could be saving your life. And if same-sex marriage codification is a quick fix for that and similar issues for those who can fit into the State sanctioned same-sex marriage walls, which admittedly leaves some members of the Queer community who don’t overlap out, as part of an overall and more inclusive strategy that does include them then I’m in favour of it. That is, till the time comes that Straight and Queer can, over time and with a lot of mutual social learning, explore how to recognise and give equal rights with or without State based codification to the multiple queer and sometimes polyamorous relationship models that already populate the Gay and Straight worlds right now. So in the meantime continue to count me down as a “marriage-chasing-Gay.” But just pragmatically, not to normalise, as one of a diversity of political strategies for equality and just for now. References Badiou, Alain. Ethics: An Essay on the Understanding of Evil. New York: Verso, 2001. ———. Saint Paul: The Foundation of Universalism, Stanford: Stanford UP, 2003. Bradshaw, James. “Pride Toronto Denied Federal Funding.” The Globe and Mail. 7 May. 2012 ‹http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/pride-toronto-denied-federal-funding/article1211065/›. Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York: Routledge,1990. ———. 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