Robotic air vehicle. Blending artificial intelligence with conventional software

The Robotic Air Vehicle (RAV) system is described. The program's objectives were to design, implement, and demonstrate cooperating expert systems for piloting robotic air vehicles. The development of this system merges conventional programming used in passive navigation with Artificial Intelligence techniques such as voice recognition, spatial reasoning, and expert systems. The individual components of the RAV system are discussed as well as their interactions with each other and how they operate as a system

Preventing Prejudiced Psychological Practice: Social Justice Education in Undergraduate Psychology Programs

In order to provide sufficient mental health care services and produce ethical research, psychologists must be motivated to inhibit their personal biases. Bias in psychological research and mental health care settings can contribute to the perpetuation of oppression, preventing clients who identify with marginalized groups from receiving adequate mental health services. Prejudice amongst mental health care providers can influence misdiagnosis and wrongful prescription of medication. Psychological research informs clinical practices, thus biased research can lead to prejudiced mental health care practices. To ensure that members of marginalized groups receive effective health care, there is a global need for ethical, culturally sensitive, and socially just mental health care practitioners. The vast majority of prejudices adopted by psychologists are rooted in White-supremacist and Eurocentric perspectives that have gained dominance as a result of colonization and globalization. The following inquiry poses that social justice education in undergraduate psychology programs is essential to reduce prejudices among psychologists by exposing students of psychology to global systems of oppression to foster motivation to inhibit prejudices. The following article seeks to uncover global continuity in the definition of social justice, and asserts that social justice principles are deeply embedded within the principles of psychology on a global scale. Social justice education in undergraduate psychology programs should be implemented for the sake of providing all people with ethical and socially just research and mental health care services

Myanmar's National League for Democracy at a crossroads

Democratic transition in Myanmar appears to have come to a standstill. Western analysts have focused on the political constraints faced by the National League for Democracy (NLD) under Aung San Suu Kyi. Most refer to the still-excessive power of the military to explain the party's governance failure. However, a closer look suggests that the NLD is not only unable but is also unwilling to lead according to democratic principles. Since its re-establishment as a political party in 2011, the NLD has mobilized voters by propagating liberty, equality, and justice - thus fanning the hopes of those longing for an end to authoritarian state policies. Now, over a year after its landslide victory, these hopes are beginning to crumble as the NLD fails to live up to its convictions. Ethnic minorities have criticised the lack of progress in ensuring their rights in the face of military operations in the north-east and the west of the country. Human rights advocates have condemned Aung San Suu Kyi's passivity towards the military's persecution of the Rohingya minority in Rakhine State and the NLD's downplaying of the conflict. The media faces increasing intimidation instead of enjoying freedom of speech, while state media channels continue to produce old-style propaganda. NLD members are worried about the decline of democratic decision-making within the party. They are demanding a more transparent and efficient chain of communication to address urgent concerns and deeper integration of junior party members. The NLD's tacit approval of the military's actions and its increased disconnection from the democratic values on which it was elected have raised concerns over the party's will to continue along its chosen path. To support Myanmar's transition, European decision-makers need to strengthen their relations with the Myanmar government and press for policies that support transparency, accountability, and the protection of human rights. To be successful, policymakers should employ an approach that combines economic cooperation incentives and careful diplomatic counsel

Three Faces of Party Organisation in the National League for Democracy

The National League for Democracy (NLD) is a decisive actor in Myanmar's ongoing political transformation process and yet a clear understanding of its structure is absent from the discourse on the party. This article analyses the NLD based on Richard Katz's and Peter Mair's "three faces of party organisation." It examines the relationship between the NLD in public office, the NLD on the ground, and the NLD central office. The findings characterise the NLD as a highly centralised party in which most decision-making power is concentrated at the party’s central office. Select layers of the party's network retain the power to influence important decisions, such as the nomination of candidates for elections. Yet, their ability to do so is due to the lack of rules and regulations. This article argues that the structure of the NLD is the product of the dynamics that governed the formation and development of the party under authoritarian rule. Fears of a partial authoritarian resurgence at the hands of Myanmar's armed forces (Tatmadaw) and the perception that its authoritarian structures constitute a competitive advantage within Myanmar's hybrid regime inform the NLD's decision to refrain from reforming and democratising its structure. Yet, leaving the party's structure unchanged stands to negatively impact the party's political profile and its role in Myanmar's political transformation process. In the long term, it might endanger the party's stability and contravene the party's political principles. The article draws on interviews with NLD politicians conducted during an extensive research stay in Myanmar from 2018 to 2019

Population genetic data for 17 Y STR markers from Benghazi (East Libya)

The seventeen Y-STR loci included in the AmpF‘STR1 YfilerTM PCR Amplification kit (DYS19, DYS389I,DYS389II, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392, DYS393, DYS385a/b, DYS438, DYS439, DYS437, DYS448, DYS458,DYS456, DYS635, and Y-GATA-H4) were used to type a sample population of 238 males from eastern Libya (Benghazi region). Of 238 observed haplotypes, 214 were unique (90%) and 24 (10%) were found more than once. The 17 loci gave a discriminating power of 0.999. DYS458 showed the highest diversity as a single-locus marker (0.73). Allelic frequencies and gene diversities for each Y-STR locus were determined. The high haplotype diversity and discrimination capacity (0.996) demonstrate the utility of these loci for human identification in forensic applications. Comparative analysis with Y-STR datasets of relevant populations and submission of the haplotypes to the Y-STR Haplotype Reference Database (YHRD) was undertaken