AUTONOMOUS QUADROTOR COLLISION AVOIDANCE AND DESTINATION SEEKING IN A GPS-DENIED ENVIRONMENT

This thesis presents a real-time autonomous guidance and control method for a quadrotor in a GPS-denied environment. The quadrotor autonomously seeks a destination while it avoids obstacles whose shape and position are initially unknown. We implement the obstacle avoidance and destination seeking methods using off-the-shelf sensors, including a vision-sensing camera. The vision-sensing camera detects the positions of points on the surface of obstacles. We use this obstacle position data and a potential-field method to generate velocity commands. We present a backstepping controller that uses the velocity commands to generate the quadrotor\u27s control inputs. In indoor experiments, we demonstrate that the guidance and control methods provide the quadrotor with sufficient autonomy to fly point to point, while avoiding obstacles

Whose Gig Is It Anyway? Technological Change, Workplace Control and Supervision, and Workers\u27 Rights in the Gig Economy

Under the current regime of employment and labor laws, coverage is determined on the basis of whether a given worker is an employee as opposed to an independent contractor. These laws contain inadequate definitions of employee, leaving it up to the court system and administrative agencies to define the term. The current tests that they use fail to capture the realities of the gig economy, a system that purports to promote greater worker freedom through the fragmentation of work assignments into smaller tasks or gigs. The gig economy has offered consumers lower prices and has given workers greater autonomy in choosing when to work. But if you take a look under the hood, there are problems within the gig economy. Workers complain about their lack of control over their work lives and workplace decisions, as well as their lack of economic opportunity. Indeed, within the gig economy, workers are subject to invisible yet powerful methods of supervision and control. These methods of control make it difficult for courts to find comparisons between the gig economy and more traditional work relationships. This Comment examines the gig economy, the factors behind its success, and the issues for workers that have followed. It then makes the argument that, if measures are not taken to reform existing employment and labor laws, gig economy workers, regardless of an individual\u27s education level, could endure the same problems that graduate assistants at American universities currently face: dwindling economic opportunity and workplace isolation. This Comment then presents some current proposals for creating a new regime of employment and labor laws for the gig economy. This new regime of laws is going to require its own test that better reflects how companies like Uber and Lyft control, supervise, and manage their workforce in ways both new and old. Accordingly, this Comment ends by proposing a two-part test that looks at (1) the kind of service the worker is providing and (2) whether the employer is economically dependent on the service that the workers in question are providing

Strategies for practice in helping fathers step up to the plate and stay engaged

In times of stress or crisis for families, one effective approach practitioners can use is the conceptual framework of family strengths as a mechanism to promote strong, healthy relationships. The purpose of this article is to familiarize practitioners with the family strengths perspective and encourage them to incorporate family strengths into working with fathers. Clinical impressions will be discussed, including introducing Holistic Integration Techniques (HIT), along with other intervention strategies for practitioners implement. The concept of family strengths has been studied for several decades and describes a family that functions optimally in support of the individual members, including fathers. When practitioners use a family strengths theoretical framework in their practice instead of focusing on trying to improve deficits of family functioning, they pay attention to strengthening families and giving them the tools to achieve a quality walk of life

Restorative Justice: Isolation to Empowerment in the Campus Rape Adjudication Process

Violence against women is a serious problem on colleges and university campuses in the United States today. This review finds that the current system of adjudication of campus sexual assaults is hostile and irresponsive to the needs of the victims and fails to protect or include the community in redressing the harm. This article highlights the state of sexual assaults on colleges and university campuses today and reviews the campus adjudication system under the standards of Title IX. In light of these findings, this article introduces restorative justice as an alternative form of justice to reform the adjudicatory process in campus sexual assault cases while complying with the mandates of Title IX. Restorative justice refers to a non-traditional approach to crime and justice intended to repair the harm to victims, hold offenders accountable, and restore safety to victims, relationships and communities (Umbreit & Armour, 2010). To the extent that the present quasi-judicial system of adjudication of campus sexual assaults routinely fails victims and the community, the author argues that restorative justice can be an approach used to respond to sexual assault on campus

Facilitating home birth in perinatal palliative care: case report

Background: Perinatal palliative care can offer compassionate support to families following diagnosis of a life-limiting illness, to enable them to make valued choices and the most of the time that they have with their newborn. However, home birth is usually only offered in low-risk pregnancies. Case: A couple who received an antenatal diagnosis of Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome and who had made a plan to provide palliative care to their baby after birth requested the option of a home birth. Possible courses of action: Recommend birth at hospital or explore the possibility of a home birth with perinatal palliative care support. Formulation of a plan:Multidisciplinary discussion and collaboration enabled a plan for home birth to be made which anticipated potential complications. Outcome: The baby was born at home and died on day 5 of life receiving outreach nursing, paediatric and palliative care support and buccal and oral opioids for symptom management. We include reflections from the family on the importance of this experience. Lessons: We provide a list of potential criteria for considering home birth in the setting of perinatal palliative care. View: Facilitating a home birth in the setting of perinatal palliative care is an option that can be hugely valued by families, but this service may be practically difficult to deliver in many contexts. Further research is needed to understand the preferences of women and families receiving perinatal palliative care

Student Life (1935 Feb 8)

Table of Contents: Susannah Turner Reports on N.S.F.A. Conference Freshmen Elect Miss Wood as Sponsor Poem by Miss Parmenter Published Recently Rath, Miss Egolf Give Two-Piano Recital La Follette to Speak on The Washington Scene Religious Conference to Meet at W. & L. Rev. James and Singers to Present Program Hollins College Acquires U.S. Post Office Two of Faculty Attend Peace Conference Carnegie Foundation Gives Music and Art Equipment Ballet Russe Will Be Presented in Roanoke Student Forum Why Not? Worth-While Gifts Is the Grading System Just? Chaos in the Little Theatre Athletics Petitions Discussed in Senior Forum Statistics Show Many Alumnae Kinsmen Society Alumnae News The Princess and the Punner Campus Crumbs Curtis String Quartet Presents Musical Smokes Freeze While Keller Recuperateshttps://digitalcommons.hollins.edu/newspapers/1334/thumbnail.jp

Hollins Columns (1942 Oct 24)

Table of Contents: Senter Is Elected Junior Officer Necessary Price Rise Begins at Tea Room Committee Studies Petition Problems Winship to Edit Hollins Handbook Hallowe\u27en Brings Spooks, Ghosts and Haunts to Hollins Campus, Special Banquet Celebration Will be Followed by Senior Stunts Executive Council Coordinates Work Isabel de Palencia Comes to Hollins; Authoress Speaks at Convocation Swimming Club Grows; Members Take Tests Cinema Guild Brings Film Here Saturday Schedule of Events This is Our Chance We are Approved A Salutation From the Seniors Hollins Columns Presents the Second in a Series of News Analyses by Judy Weiss Under the Dome Music Association to Give Tea But Who is Winken???? Community Concert Presents Singer Successful Contest Held on Saturday The Day After Tinker Day Frills and Frolics Students Perform at Recital of Friday 23 Pin Poll Reveals Hollins Popularity Miss Jackson To Talk at Convocation Skirting the Field The Students Discuss Farming During War Time Members of Teams To Be Announced Two Hollins Girls Attend Meetings Mr. Goodale offers Farewell Recital Dorscheid Announces New Staff of Spinster Classes Review College Ruleshttps://digitalcommons.hollins.edu/newspapers/1433/thumbnail.jp

Isolation to empowerment: A review of the campus rape adjudication process

ABSTRACT Violence against women is a serious problem on colleges and university campuses in the United States today. This review finds that the current system of adjudication of campus sexual assaults is hostile and irresponsive to the needs of the victims and fails to protect or include the community in redressing the harm. This article highlights the state of sexual assaults on colleges and university campuses today and reviews the campus adjudication system under the standards of Title IX. In light of these findings, this article introduces restorative justice as an alternative form of justice to reform the adjudicatory process in campus sexual assault cases while complying with the mandates of Title IX. Restorative justice refers to a non-traditional approach to crime and justice intended to repair the harm to victims, hold offenders accountable, and restore safety to victims, relationships and communities (Umbreit & Armour, 2010). To the extent that the present quasi-judicial system of adjudication of campus sexual assaults routinely fails victims and the community, the author argues that restorative justice can be an approach used to respond to sexual assault on campus

Seeker Free-Flying Inspector GNC System Overview

Seeker is an ultra-low cost approach to highly automated extravehicular inspection of crewed or uncrewed spacecraft that has been designed and built in-house at the NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC). The first version of Seeker is intended to be an incremental development towards an advanced inspection capability. This effort builds on past free-flying inspector development efforts such as the Autonomous Extravehicular Activity Robotic Camera Sprint (AERCam Sprint) and Mini AERCam. Seeker was funded as an International Space Station (ISS) "X-by" Project, which required delivery of the vehicle approximately one year after authority to proceed and within the budget of $1.8 million. Seeker will fly onboard the NG-11 Cygnus mission in 2019 and will deploy after Cygnus' primary mission is completed. Seeker will perform inspection-like maneuvers within 50 meters of the target vehicle (Cygnus) and then dispose itself. The Seeker Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC) system is composed entirely of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) and space-rated COTS items, an inertial-relative Multiplicative Extended Kalman Filter (MEKF), point-to-point guidance (with various additional modes such as stationkeeping), proportional-integral translational control, phase plane rotational control, and a state machine for automated mission moding with minimal ground input