Modeling and control for heave dynamics of a flexible wing micro aerial vehicle distributed parameter system

In recent years, much research has been motivated by the idea of biologically-inspired flight. It is a conjecture of the United States Air Force that incorporating characteristics of biological flight into air vehicles will significantly improve the maneuverability and performance of modern aircraft. Although there are studies which involve the aerodynamics, structural dynamics, modeling, and control of flexible wing micro aerial vehicles (MAVs), issues of control and vehicular modeling as a whole are largely unexplored. Modeling with such dynamics lends itself to systems of partial differential equations (PDEs) with nonlinearities, and limited control theory is available for such systems. In this work, a multiple component structure consisting of two Euler-Bernoulli beams connected to a rigid mass is used to model the heave dynamics of an aeroelastic wing MAV, which is acted upon by a nonlinear aerodynamic lift force. We seek to employ tools from distributed parameter modeling and linear control theory in an effort to achieve agile flight potential of flexible, morphable wing MAV airframes. Theoretical analysis of the model is conducted, which includes generating solutions to the eigenvalue problem for the system and determining well-posedness and the attainment of a C 0-semigroup for the linearly approximated model. In order to test the model\u27s ability to track to a desired state and to gain insight into optimal morphing trajectories, two control objectives are employed on the model: target state tracking and morphing trajectory over time

Emotion recognition in the human face and voice

This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University LondonAt a perceptual level, faces and voices consist of very different sensory inputs and therefore, information processing from one modality can be independent of information processing from another modality (Adolphs & Tranel, 1999). However, there may also be a shared neural emotion network that processes stimuli independent of modality (Peelen, Atkinson, & Vuilleumier, 2010) or emotions may be processed on a more abstract cognitive level, based on meaning rather than on perceptual signals. This thesis therefore aimed to examine emotion recognition across two separate modalities in a within-subject design, including a cognitive Chapter 1 with 45 British adults, a developmental Chapter 2 with 54 British children as well as a cross-cultural Chapter 3 with 98 German and British children, and 78 German and British adults. Intensity ratings as well as choice reaction times and correlations of confusion analyses of emotions across modalities were analysed throughout. Further, an ERP Chapter investigated the time-course of emotion recognition across two modalities. Highly correlated rating profiles of emotions in faces and voices were found which suggests a similarity in emotion recognition across modalities. Emotion recognition in primary-school children improved with age for both modalities although young children relied mainly on faces. British as well as German participants showed comparable patterns for rating basic emotions, but subtle differences were also noted and Germans perceived emotions as less intense than British. Overall, behavioural results reported in the present thesis are consistent with the idea of a general, more abstract level of emotion processing which may act independently of modality. This could be based, for example, on a shared emotion brain network or some more general, higher-level cognitive processes which are activated across a range of modalities. Although emotion recognition abilities are already evident during childhood, this thesis argued for a contribution of ‘nurture’ to emotion mechanisms as recognition was influenced by external factors such as development and culture.Economics and Social Research Counci

Master of Science

thesisThe current study sought information from parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) about concerns that they might have had prior to their child being screened for ASD. The aim was to determine which symptoms were most likely to be missed by parents, and which concerns are more likely to predict the results obtained from early childhood screenings. Factors contributing to the accuracy of parental report and their seeking assistance to address concerns were also investigated. Participants were drawn from the population of 813 children who were screened for ASD as part of the larger Each Child Study, a project intended to investigate the feasibility of systematically screening children for ASD during visits to pediatricians or primary care physicians. As part of this study, children were initially screened at the pediatrician's office and those who screened positive for ASD were called for a follow-up telephone interview. The sample for the current study included the 162 parents who were successfully contacted for this follow-up interview. Ages of participants ranged from 15 to 31 months, with a mean age of 22 months. Fifty-eight percent of participants were male while 35 % were female. During the phone interview, participants were first asked to report any concerns about their child's development and then to confirm the responses given on the screeners completed at the pediatrician's office. Those who continued to screen positive after the phone interview were invited for an in-person screening to confirm results. Results of this study suggested that parents of children who screened positive for ASD missed social behavior and stereotyped behavior symptoms more frequently than other ASD symptoms. Parents accurately reported language delay more frequently than other ASD symptoms. No specific parental concern was found to be predictive of screening outcome but findings suggest that the presence of concerns in more than one category may predict a positive screen for ASD. Parents who reported concerns about abnormal social behavior and stereotyped repetitive behaviors were more likely to have sought assistance for their concerns than parents who had reported concern in other areas. Maternal age and the presence of older siblings do not appear to impact a parent's ability to recognize and become concerned by ASD symptoms and the influence of family structure (number of parents in the home) could not be assessed because of the limited range of the sample on this factor. Overall, results suggest that parents could benefit from additional information about the early signs of autism, specifically normal versus abnormal social interaction and repetitive, stereotyped behavior

On the Non-Associativity of Analog Computations

The energy efficiency of analog forms of computing makes it one of the most promising candidates to deploy resource-hungry machine learning tasks on resource-constrained system such as mobile or embedded devices. However, it is well known that for analog computations the safety net of discretization is missing, thus all analog computations are exposed to a variety of imperfections of corresponding implementations. Examples include non-linearities, saturation effect and various forms of noise. In this work, we observe that the ordering of input operands of an analog operation also has an impact on the output result, which essentially makes analog computations non-associative, even though the underlying operation might be mathematically associative. We conduct a simple test by creating a model of a real analog processor which captures such ordering effects. With this model we assess the importance of ordering by comparing the test accuracy of a neural network for keyword spotting, which is trained based either on an ordered model, on a non-ordered variant, and on real hardware. The results prove the existence of ordering effects as well as their high impact, as neglecting ordering results in substantial accuracy drops.Comment: Published at the ECML PKDD Conference 2023, at the 4th Workshop on IoT, Edge, and Mobile for Embedded Machine Learnin

Emergency nurse roles, challenges, and preparedness in hospitals in the context of armed conflict

Introduction: An understanding of emergency nurses' roles, challenges, and preparedness in the context of armed conflict is necessary to capture in-depth insights into this specialty and their preparational needs when working in these unique environments. Unfortunately, the evidence about emergency nurses' work in the context of armed conflict is scant. Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 23 participants and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The COREQ guideline for reporting qualitative research was followed. Results: The emergency nurses' roles, challenges, and preparedness in hospitals in the context of armed conflict were explored in detail. The main challenges that these nurses faced included poor orientation, access block, and communication barriers. Various perspectives about preparation, including education, training, and strategies for preparing emergency nurses were identified. The most striking findings in these settings were the diversity of armed conflict injuries, clinical profiles of patients, triage of mass casualties, trauma care, surge capacity, orientation, communication, and strategies for preparing nurses. Conclusions: This study provided an exploration of the scope of emergency nurses' roles, and how they were prepared and expected to function across multiple hospitals in armed conflict areas. The resultant snapshot of their experiences, challenges, and responsibilities provides an informative resource and outlines essential information for future emergency nursing workforce preparedness. There is a broad range of preparational courses being undertaken by emergency nurses to work effectively in settings of armed conflict; however, required education and training should be carefully planned according to their actual roles and responsibilities in these settings. © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc

Core competencies of emergency nurses for the armed conflict context : Experiences from the field

Background: Armed conflicts are usually associated with high mortality and morbidity rates, with unpredictable workload, injuries and illnesses. Identifying emergency nurses’ views of the core competencies required to enable them to work effectively in hospitals in areas of armed conflict is critical. It is important to inform the requisite standards of care and facilitate the translation of knowledge into safe, quality care. Aim: The aim of this study was to identify emergency nurses’ perceptions of core competencies necessary to work in hospitals in the context of armed conflict. Method: A descriptive qualitative phase of a mixed-method study using semi-structured interviews with participants was conducted from June to July 2019. The COREQ guideline for reporting qualitative research was followed. Findings: A sample of 15 participants was interviewed. The participant perceptions provided a different perspective of core competencies required for emergency nurses in the context of armed conflict, culminating in four main areas: (i) personal preparedness, (ii) leadership, (iii) communication and (iv) assessment and intervention. Conclusion: This study identified emergency nurses’ perceptions of their core competencies. Personal preparedness, leadership, communication, assessment and intervention were identified as contributing to calmness of character, confidence in care and cultural awareness for care in this setting and were essential for them to work effectively when managing victims of armed conflict in emergency departments. Implications for nursing practice and health policy: The findings of this study are important and novel because the researchers sought the perspectives of emergency nurses who have experience in receiving patients from armed conflict firsthand. The findings will inform policymakers in those settings regarding standard of care, education and drills for hospital nurses in optimizing armed conflict care response outcomes

Effects of emotional study context on immediate and delayed recognition memory: Evidence from event-related potentials

Whilst research has largely focused on the recognition of emotional items, emotion may be a more subtle part of our surroundings and conveyed by context rather than by items. Using ERPs, we investigated which effects an arousing context during encoding may have for item-context binding and subsequent familiarity-based and recollection-based item-memory. It has been suggested that arousal could facilitate item-context bindings and by this enhance the contribution of recollection to subsequent memory judgements. Alternatively, arousal could shift attention onto central features of a scene and by this foster unitisation during encoding. This could boost the contribution of familiarity to remembering. Participants learnt neutral objects paired with ecologically highly valid emotional faces whose names later served as neutral cues during an immediate and delayed test phase. Participants identified objects faster when they had originally been studied together with emotional context faces. Items with both neutral and emotional context elicited an early frontal ERP old/new difference (200-400 ms). Neither the neurophysiological correlate for familiarity nor recollection were specific to emotionality. For the ERP correlate of recollection, we found an interaction between stimulus type and day, suggesting that this measure decreased to a larger extend on Day 2 compared with Day 1. However, we did not find direct evidence for delayed forgetting of items encoded in emotional contexts at Day 2. Emotion at encoding might make retrieval of items with emotional context more readily accessible, but we found no significant evidence that emotional context either facilitated familiarity-based or recollection-based item-memory after a delay of 24 h

“More time. More showing. More helping. That’s how it sticks”: The Perspectives of Early Childhood Coachees

Coaching is a form of consultation used in early childhood settings to support positive outcomes for young children and families. While some research shows the effectiveness of coaching on practice and outcomes, little information is available on the experiences and perspectives of “coachees” as recipients of coaching support. The purpose of this study was to understand, from the coachees’ point of view, the benefits and challenges of participating in an early childhood coaching relationship. Twenty-one parents, preschool teachers and childcare providers who had engaged in coaching relationships participated in interviews and completed surveys regarding their experiences and perspectives. Data were thematically analyzed. Five overall themes, and sixteen subthemes, emerged as salient to the experiences of these coachees: (1) qualities of the coach; (2) resources provided by the coach; (3) qualities of the coach-coachee relationship; (4) coachee transformation; and (5) challenges to the coaching process. This in-depth, qualitative examination of coachees’ experiences revealed a powerful story of the transformative nature of their partnerships with their coaches. The study has implications for hiring early childhood coaches, planning professional development activities for EC coaches, and implementing models of early childhood coaching