Probably Unknown: Deep Inverse Sensor Modelling In Radar

Radar presents a promising alternative to lidar and vision in autonomous vehicle applications, able to detect objects at long range under a variety of weather conditions. However, distinguishing between occupied and free space from raw radar power returns is challenging due to complex interactions between sensor noise and occlusion. To counter this we propose to learn an Inverse Sensor Model (ISM) converting a raw radar scan to a grid map of occupancy probabilities using a deep neural network. Our network is self-supervised using partial occupancy labels generated by lidar, allowing a robot to learn about world occupancy from past experience without human supervision. We evaluate our approach on five hours of data recorded in a dynamic urban environment. By accounting for the scene context of each grid cell our model is able to successfully segment the world into occupied and free space, outperforming standard CFAR filtering approaches. Additionally by incorporating heteroscedastic uncertainty into our model formulation, we are able to quantify the variance in the uncertainty throughout the sensor observation. Through this mechanism we are able to successfully identify regions of space that are likely to be occluded.Comment: 6 full pages, 1 page of reference

Controlled membrane remodeling by Nanospheres and Nanorods: Experiments targeting the design principles for membrane-based materials

In this thesis we explore two experimental systems probing the interactions of nanoparticles with lipid bilayer membranes. Inspired by the ability of cell membranes to alter their shape in response to bound particles, we report two experimental studies: one of nanospheres the other of long, slender nano-rods binding to lipid bilayer vesicles and altering the membrane shape. Our work illuminates the role of particle geometry, particle concentration, adhesion strength and membrane tension in how membrane morphology is determined. We combine giant unilamellar vesicles with oppositely charged nanoparticles, carefully tuning adhesion strength, membrane tension and particle concentration. In the case of nanospheres we show that spherical nanoparticles binding to lipid-bilayer membrane vesicles results in a remarkably rich set of collective morphologies that are controllable via the particle binding energy. We separately study cationic and anionic particles, where the adhesion is tuned by addition of oppositely charged lipids to the vesicles. When the binding energy is weak relative to a characteristic membrane-bending energy, vesicles adhere to one another and form a soft solid gel, a novel and useful platform for controlled release. With larger binding energy, a transition from partial to complete wrapping of the nanoparticles causes a remarkable vesicle destruction process culminating in rupture, nanoparticle-membrane tubules, and an apparent inversion of the vesicles. In the case of nanorods when we increased adhesion strength, the primary behaviors observed are membrane deformation, vesicle-vesicle adhesion, and vesicle rupture. These behaviors are observed in well-defined regions in the parameter space with sharp transitions between them. We observed deformation of the membrane resulting in tubulation, texted surfaces, small dark aggregates, and large aggregates. These responses are robust and repeatable providing a physical understanding of the dependence on shape, binding affinity, and particle concentration in membrane remodeling. These findings help unify the diverse phenomena observed previously as well as present new particle induced morphologies. They open the door to a new class of vesicle-based, closed-cell gels that are more than 99% water and can encapsulate and release on demand, and show how to drive intentional membrane remodeling for shape-responsive systems

Criminal complicity: A comparative analysis of homicide liability.

The work considers the construction of homicide liability where two or more parties participate in a crime that culminates in a homicide collateral to the original criminal purpose. Under English law, this scenario is encountered in joint enterprise cases and, in 1997, the House of Lords gave a judgement intended to clarify the liability of participating non-perpetrators of homicides committed during the execution of joint criminal enterprises. In 1993, the Law Commission recommended amending the doctrinal basis of complicity. Omitting joint enterprise from the new framework, it was suggested that it be recognised as a separate doctrine. In order to assess the Law Commission's proposals and the House of Lords' judgement, the historical progress and socio-political context of complicity and homicide are examined prior to analysing the alternative doctrinal foundations for secondary liability, including the relationship between complicity, incitement and conspiracy. In concluding that an amendment to the doctrinal basis of complicity fails to deliver convincingly comprehensive solutions to the existing problems and that joint enterprise cannot stand alone as a meaningfully discrete head of liability, attention is focussed upon the impact of the substantive law of murder and involuntary manslaughter upon secondary liability. It is submitted that the unpalatable theoretical solutions to secondary party homicide liability gain potency from the development of substantive homicide and from the uneven results achieved when applying the substantive law to accessories. The principal comparative model is South African law. Having chosen to adopt common purpose liability from English law and develop the resulting liability alongside Roman-Dutch principles. South Africa provides both similarities and differences with English developments. Furthermore, consideration of the cases that pervaded the apartheid era provide a further insight into the socio-political context of this area of the law. Both the English and South African material include cases up to and including 30 June 2002

“Opening” a New Kind of High School: The Story of the Open High School of Utah

The use of online learning at the primary and secondary school level is growing exponentially in the United States. Much of this growth is with full-time online schools, most of which are operated by for-profit companies that use proprietary online course content. In this article we trace the development of, and philosophy behind, a full-time online school that uses open access software and open educational resources for course content. As more nations begin to put in place plans for primary and secondary education in the event of natural disasters (e.g., the Christchurch earthquakes) or pandemics (e.g., avian flu or H1N1), the availability of open online content is of critical importance

Political Voice as Embodied Performance: young women, politics and engagement.

In this thesis I argue that a focus on the embodied voice can be used as a tool of political intervention. Specifically focusing on how young women engage politically, I explore to what extent voice training can help young women notice the relationship between physiological tensions in their voice and repressive social and political structures. Furthermore, I argue that voice training can support young women in creating political performances that resist these repressions. I identify that in both practices that engage young women in the political and in much applied theatre work the embodied voice is largely unconsidered. Instead these fields focus on voice in its metaphoric sense. I demonstrate the term ‘political voice’ must also consider the way the voice can be repressed or liberated physiologically. This is a theorisation of political voice drawing together the sociology of Pierre Bourdieu with the practices of voice technique. I designed and delivered a series of workshops with young women combining technique, drama exercises and political discussion, from which I draw several conclusions relevant to how we practice voice with young women. Firstly, voice training can be used to help young women understand the concept of habitus. This is important as I argue this is a process of political ‘noticing’, where young women can see that any perceived deficiencies in their voices are not the result of personal failure, but because of the ways in which the social has structured their voice. Secondly, voice training can help young people articulate these repressions and furthermore use the voice to vocalise against these repressions. This was clear in how aspects of the tensionless voice that my participants discovered through training manifested in how they represented political engagement in their devised performances. Accordingly, I argue that voice training is an act of political intervention

Assemblage, size and abundance bias in a novel sandy shore macro-infaunal sampling technique

Sampling sandy shore macro-invertebrate fauna is critical in enhancing our understanding of beach ecology and conservation, and is a common monitoring approach. The traditional, and almost universal, method of sampling involves sieving sand to locate infauna, but here we describe a novel Hydraulic Sampling Device (HSD), a candidate method for future macro-invertebrate sampling, which has the potential to be faster and more effective at sampling invertebrates. We compared the results obtained by these two methods. Macro-invertebrate fauna of six beaches on Phillip Island, southern Victoria, Australia were sampled in the upper and lower beach. On average, the HSD sampled a smaller size range of fauna than the sieving method, perhaps because of longer handling times and escape of larger individuals. The sieving method found more individuals and a higher species richness. The methods we describe do not produce directly comparable results. On balance, the sieving method is simpler, apparently not as prone to ‘escape bias’, and reports higher abundances and richness of beach infauna

After the TEF and Consumer Law Based Interventions – Are Prospective HE Students Now Able to Make Informed Choices?

This article argues that recent government interventions in higher education – some based in consumer law and others in the form of the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) have failed to put prospective students in a position to make informed choices about courses or universities. Consumer law-based interventions do not give students all the information they need, although they may help to improve the standard of information and to control marketing excess. The TEF, with its focus on outputs rather than inputs, similarly misses the mark. These failures are bad for students and, to the extent that higher education is a market which depends on students making informed choices, bad for higher education

Nociceptin Signaling Involves a Calcium-Based Depolarization in Tetrahymena thermophila

Tetrahymena thermophila are free-living, ciliated eukaryotes. Their behavioral response to stimuli is well characterized and easily observable, since cells swim toward chemoattractants and avoid chemorepellents. Chemoattractant responses involve increased swim speed or a decreased change in swim direction, while chemorepellent signaling involves ciliary reversal, which causes the organism to jerk back and forth, swim in small circles, or spin in an attempt to get away from the repellent. Many food sources, such as proteins, are chemoattractants for these organisms, while a variety of compounds are repellents. Repellents in nature are thought to come from the secretions of predators or from ruptured organisms, which may serve as “danger” signals. Interestingly, several peptides involved in vertebrate pain signaling are chemorepellents in Tetrahymena, including substances P, ACTH, PACAP, VIP, and nociceptin. Here, we characterize the response of Tetrahymena thermophila to three different isoforms of nociceptin. We find that G-protein inhibitors and tyrosine kinase inhibitors do not affect nociceptin avoidance. However, the calcium chelator, EGTA, and the SERCA calcium ATPase inhibitor, thapsigargin, both inhibit nociceptin avoidance, implicating calcium in avoidance. This result is confirmed by electrophysiology studies which show that 50µM nociceptin-NH2 causes a sustained depolarization of approximately 40 mV, which is eliminated by the addition of extracellular EGTA

Twelfth Night

The archival file of William Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night," adapted and directed by Sarah "Westy" Weston. This play ran from January 26-28th 2023

Exploring choking experiences in elite sport: The role of self- presentation

Objectives The aims of this study were twofold: first, to examine the role of self-presentation within the lived-experience of choking in sport; and second, to explore whether the 2 × 2 framework of self-presentation (Howle, Jackson, Conroy, & Dimmock, 2015) holds the potential to further our understanding of acute sporting failure under pressurized conditions. Design and Method An empirical phenomenological research design was adopted to address the research aims. Purposefully selected participants completed phenomenological interviews, which explored in detail their experiences of choking and clutch performance under pressure. The sample consisted of 9 elite athletes (6 male and 3 female) (Mage = 27.14; SD = 5.27) from a range of sports (netball, rugby union, golf, tennis, and cricket). Results Participants reported a tendency to hold protective-agentic self-presentation motives, low self-presentation efficacy, and self-presentational concerns prior to, and during the choke. Conversely, acquisitive-agentic self-presentation motives, and self-presentation efficacy were experienced before and during clutch performances. However, alongside self-presentation, other psychological constructs also preceded and accompanied the choking experience (e.g., unfamiliarity and perceived control). Conclusion This exploratory study is the first to identify the value of examining choking in sport through the lens of the 2 × 2 self-presentation framework, with self-presentation motives appearing to influence the choking experience. Yet, it is also evident that self-presentation may not explain all choking episodes