Reference architecture for robot teleoperation: development details and practical use

The need to avoid redundant efforts in software development has been recognized for a long time. Currently, work is focused on the generation of products that are designed to be reused. A reference architecture for robot teleoperation systems has been developed using the domain-engineering process and certain architectural patterns. The architecture has been applied successfully to the development of different teleoperation platforms used in the maintenance activities of nuclear power plants. In particular, this paper presents how the reference architecture has been implemented in different systems, such as the Remotely Operated Service Arm (ROSA), the Teleoperated and Robotized System for Maintenance Operation in Nuclear Power Plants Vessels (TRON) and the Inspection Retrieving Vehicle (IRV).This work has been partially supported by the Spanish Government Programmes for Research in Electrical Power (project PIE-041049), and for Technological Actuation in Industry (PAUTA projects 753/ 95 y 53/96). TRON is supported inside EUREKA– MAINE program (EU1565)

Skype, code and shouting: a digitally mediated drama between Egypt and Scotland

Springtime (Tron Theatre, Glasgow, 19 May 2012) was a computationally mediated theatrical performance involving Arab and Glaswegian-Arab actors and musicians. The project was produced by Ankur Theatre Productions, Scotland’s foremost black and ethnic minority theatre company. Springtime was directed by the dramaturge Shabina Aslam. Against the backdrop of the “Arab Spring” and its aftermath, the play explored issues of authenticity and identity as mediated through multiple technologies. This paper explores the impact and significance of the production and evaluates the use of Skype, social media and custom-made software in the writing, rehearsal and final performance stages of the play

A probabilistic description of neutron scattering in a polycrystalline material

The aim of this thesis is to give a statistical description of a neu- tron traversing a neutron detector system consisting of a polycrys- talline support material. The material used as support material in this project is aluminium although the results are applicable to any polycrystalline material. A mathematical description of the possible interactions in the detector system will be given, from which the prob- abilistic nature of neutron scattering will be derived. Alongside the main results there will also be a shorter mention of a dierent approach to nding the stochastic behaviour of the neutron scattering. This approach was however not fully pursued as it did not produce the expected simplications and results. Last but not least there will be a discussion about the future work which can be done and how to continue this project as there is no complete solution to the entire problem.

Revisiting digital technologies: envisioning biodigital bodies

In this paper the contemporary practices of human genomics in the 21st century are placed alongside the digital bodies of the 1990s. The primary aim is to provide a trajectory of the biodigital as follows: First, digital bodies and biodigital bodies were both part of the spectacular imaginaries of early cybercultures. Second, these spectacular digital bodies were supplemented in the mid-1990s by digital bodywork practices that have become an important dimension of everyday communication. Third, the spectacle of biodigital bodies is in the process of being supplemented by biodigital bodywork practices, through personal or direct-to-consumer genomics. This shift moves a form of biodigital communication into the everyday. Finally, what can be learned from putting the trajectories of digital and biodigital bodies together is that the degree of this communicative shift may be obscured through the doubled attachment of personal genomics to everyday digital culture and high-tech spectacle.Keywords: genomics, biodigital, bodies, spectacle, everyda

Shifting realities: Tron cyberspace and the “New” consciousness in 21st Century technoscapes

The existing direction of the (mis)use of information technologies founded on the deceptively secular rationalised heritage of scientism, arguably spells the increasing proximity to a dystopian nightmare that is far from mere fiction and imbued with the eternal religious symbolic of the battle between good and evil, as depicted in the 2010 science fiction film Tron: Legacy . The historical contextualisation of events in the film reveals the promise of the unfolding of an advanced sensibility alongside these concerns, in which fantasy and science converge to liberate humanity from an increasingly limiting worldview, and information and images serve as conduits to the sacred. The critical role information stands to play in humanity’s conscious evolution is outlined in the proposed development of a “dream systems theory”, where dreams capes are defined as interconnected systems of imaginal data

Selected design issues of a dedicated facility for generic QCD studies

QCD, even if presently out of fashion, deserves a dedicated, generic research program providing new challenges for the theory and aiming at understanding hadronic matter and vacuum in terms of quark and gluon degrees of freedom. Such a research program needs a dedicated facility to re-address basic questions which remain unanswered and to open new vistas.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, talk at Workshop on the Spin Structure of the Proton and Polarized Collider Physic

TRON 2.0 - The Experience

The goal of this senior project was to come up with a structural-engineering-related schematic design for a roller coaster to be installed in Disneyland called TRON 2.0: The Experience. This involved looking at both design processes that we had already learned through our curriculum as well as researching concepts that were previously foreign to us, namely the dynamic application of loads and the effects of fatigue stresses. A story was established based on the source material: the TRON movies produced by Walt Disney Studios. Thematic elements from the story were used as the basis for design implications that would become necessary as the process continued. These design implication influenced the design of the Ride System, Track Layout, and Ride Vehicle Design. These factors would end up influencing applicable loads, which would be utilized in the design of the Track Layout. The site was chosen to be constructed on Disneyland proper so that realistic site parameters and dimensions would give a sense of scale to the project and eliminate ambiguity. However, existing elements on the site would cause challenges for us to work around. Once the site was chosen, Queue and Show buildings were designated simple designs to tie back to story-driven implications and reinforce the standards set by the Walt Disney Imagineering process model. In addition, we gained more information such as crowd capacity to dictate further mechanical design and dynamic applications. The mechanical side of the process saw the development of a ride system used to propel the Ride Vehicles, all designed by the Mechanical Engineers on the project. The Ride Vehicle weights became relevant for the design of the track. A Track Layout was created and inputted into simulation software so that dynamic accelerations could be developed as new loading conditions for Track Design. Finally, all of the preceding elements of design were culminated into a schematic design of a roller coaster track making sure to account for subjects such as dynamic applications, torsion, and fatigue. All designs were replicated in modeling software to confirm constructability and viability of the resulting schematic design

Multifrequency radio observations of SNR J0536-6735 (N 59B) with associated pulsar

We present a study of new Australian Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) observations of supernova remnant, SNR J0536-6735. This remnant appears to follow a shell morphology with a diameter of D=36x29 pc (with 1 pc uncertainty in each direction). There is an embedded Hii region on the northern limb of the remnant which made various analysis and measurements (such as flux density, spectral index and polarisation) difficult. The radio-continuum emission followed the same structure as the optical emission, allowing for extent and flux density estimates at 20 cm. We estimate a surface brightness for the SNR at 1 GHz of 2.55x10^-21 W m^-2 Hz^-1 sr^-1. Also, we detect a distinctive radio-continuum point source which confirms the previous suggestion of this remnant being associated with a pulsar wind nebulae (PWN). The tail of this remnant isn't seen in the radio-continuum images and is only seen in the optical and X-ray images.Comment: 10 pages 4 figures, accepted for publication in SA