Driver-Vehicle Interactions in 4WDs: A Theoretical Review

With the escalating number of four-wheel drive (4WD) vehicles present on Australian roads, it is becoming increasingly important to understand the factors contributing to 4WD crashes. While 4WDs and other cars often differ in their performance characteristics, it is also possible that there are differences in driver-vehicle interactions which go beyond performance characteristics and relate more to social and personal perceptions. This paper reviews the theoretical approaches and concepts that may be used to understand the relationship between drivers and vehicles. It is noted that in recent sociological and psychological literature the conceptualization of driving has varied across multiple theoretical approaches. Some have constructed driving as a set of social practices, embodied dispositions, cybernetic associations and physical affordances, while other approaches have constructed the vehicle as a territory, and the vehicle as an extension of the driver (Dant, 2004; Fraine, 1999; Sheller, 2004). This review will discuss how these constructs may be applied to 4WD driver behaviour. Further, it will provide suggestions for methodology for future studies that aim to enhance knowledge of 4WD driver behaviour and the factors which contribute to 4WD crashes

A knowledge based application of the extended aircraft interrogation and display system

A family of multiple-processor ground support test equipment was used to test digital flight-control systems on high-performance research aircraft. A unit recently built for the F-18 high alpha research vehicle project is the latest model in a series called the extended aircraft interrogation and display system. The primary feature emphasized monitors the aircraft MIL-STD-1553B data buses and provides real-time engineering units displays of flight-control parameters. A customized software package was developed to provide real-time data interpretation based on rules embodied in a highly structured knowledge database. The configuration of this extended aircraft interrogation and display system is briefly described, and the evolution of the rule based package and its application to failure modes and effects testing on the F-18 high alpha research vehicle is discussed

Embodied Footprints: A Safety-guaranteed Collision Avoidance Model for Numerical Optimization-based Trajectory Planning

Numerical optimization-based methods are among the prevalent trajectory planners for autonomous driving. In a numerical optimization-based planner, the nominal continuous-time trajectory planning problem is discretized into a nonlinear program (NLP) problem with finite constraints imposed on finite collocation points. However, constraint violations between adjacent collocation points may still occur. This study proposes a safety-guaranteed collision-avoidance modeling method to eliminate the collision risks between adjacent collocation points in using numerical optimization-based trajectory planners. A new concept called embodied box is proposed, which is formed by enlarging the rectangular footprint of the ego vehicle. If one can ensure that the embodied boxes at finite collocation points are collide-free, then the ego vehicle's footprint is collide-free at any a moment between adjacent collocation points. We find that the geometric size of an embodied box is a simple function of vehicle velocity and curvature. The proposed theory lays a foundation for numerical optimization-based trajectory planners in autonomous driving.Comment: 12 pages, 13 figure

Agricultural apparatus

Improved agricultural apparatus including a three-point hitch frame for attaching to a vehicle and to a tool bar assembly. Three-point hitch frame includes L-shaped retaining members for engaging the tool bar assembly and may be substantially U-shaped. The invention is also embodied in an agricultural apparatus with a hitch frame for attaching to a vehicle and to a tool bar assembly and including a metering hopper system attached to the upper side of the hitch frame. The invention is also embodied in an improved ground contact metering wheel assembly for maintaining contact with the ground even on uneven terrain. The present invention has particular applicability as an interseeding apparatus

Embodied Voices:Using Applied Theatre for Co-Creation with Marginalised Youth

In this article we take a strength-based approach to understand how Applied Theatre as a vehicle, provides opportunities for embodied voices to have a positive influence on the wellbeing, and attitudes to health, of young people who have been ‘pushed’ to the margins. We begin by explaining the concepts of wellbeing, embodiment and embodied voices, and Applied Theatre, followed by an example of practice from Canada with Indigenous youth to illustrate these concepts, and finally present some recommendations for professionals using Applied Theatre for co-creation with ‘marginalised’ youth for their wellbeing

Demanding followers, empowered leaders : dance as an “embodied metaphor” for leader-follower-ship

In this paper, we explore how leadership and followership are relational, mutually constructed and mutually enabled. Using dancesport as metaphor and medium, we focus on the embodied, corporeal aspects and dynamics of leading and following, relating them to lead/follow roles and tasks of people in organizations. In a mainly autoethnographic exploration of the lived experiences of people in leader-follower-relationships, we use the concept of embodied cognition as a basis and argue that dance can provide a vehicle for immediate, implicit “insights” and even “aha effects” through sensory, bodily experiences

Seed Mapping of Sugar Beet

Individual plant care may well become embodied in precision farming in the future and will lead to new opportunities in agricultural crop management. The objective of this project was to develop and evaluate a data logging system attached to a precision seeder to enable high accuracy seed position mapping of a field of sugar beet. A Real Time Kinematic Global Positioning System (RTK GPS), optical seed detectors and a data logging system were retrofitted on to a precision seeder to map the seeds as they were planted. The average error between the seed map and the actual plant map was about 16–43 mm depending on vehicle speed and seed spacing. The results showed that the overall accuracy of the estimated plant positions was acceptable for the guidance of vehicles and implements as well as potential individual plant treatments

Speech coding at 4800 bps for mobile satellite communications

A speech compression project has recently been completed to develop a speech coding algorithm suitable for operation in a mobile satellite environment aimed at providing telephone quality natural speech at 4.8 kbps. The work has resulted in two alternative techniques which achieve reasonably good communications quality at 4.8 kbps while tolerating vehicle noise and rather severe channel impairments. The algorithms are embodied in a compact self-contained prototype consisting of two AT and T 32-bit floating-point DSP32 digital signal processors (DSP). A Motorola 68HC11 microcomputer chip serves as the board controller and interface handler. On a wirewrapped card, the prototype's circuit footprint amounts to only 200 sq cm, and consumes about 9 watts of power

Psychiatry beyond the brain: externalism, mental health, and autistic spectrum disorder

Externalist theories hold that a comprehensive understanding of mental disorder cannot be achieved unless we attend to factors that lie outside of the head: neural explanations alone will not fully capture the complex dependencies that exist between an individual’s psychiatric condition and her social, cultural, and material environment. Here, we firstly offer a taxonomy of ways in which the externalist viewpoint can be understood, and unpack its commitments concerning the nature and physical realization of mental disorder. Secondly, we apply a strongly externalist approach to the case of Autistic Spectrum Disorder, and argue that this condition can be illuminated by appeal to the hypothesis of extended cognition. We conclude by briefly considering the significance this strongly externalist approach may have for psychiatric practice and pedagogy