Drowning in our Tears

Drowning in our Tears is a series of works – installation, print media, and sculpture that explores themes of precarity, ephemerality, collective memory, and vulnerability. The need to create and preserve an archive has been the of the driving forces behind the works. I am interested in this notion of creating new language and perspectives from past trauma and hardships. The archive presents us with a site where excavation of meaning can occur, identities preserved, and new identities formed. In my work, I try to bridge the gaps, using the fragments of memory, the past and present experiences to create new perspectives and alternative futures where disenfranchised Black people have transcended systematic inequality

Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationLet $R$ be a commutative Noetherian ring and $M$ a finitely generated $R$-module. We establish cases in which the centers of \End R M and \End R {M^*} coincide with the endomorphism ring of the trace ideal of $M$. These observations are exploited to prove results for balanced and rigid modules, as well as modules with $R$-free endomorphism rings. As a consequence, we clarify the relationship between the properties of $M$ and those of its endomorphism ri

How does society view minor-attracted people and what effect does this have on their wellbeing and help-seeking behaviour?

Minor-attracted persons (MAPs), or individuals who identify themselves as having a sexual attraction to children are a highly stigmatised population. This study sought to build on existing research about the stigmatisation of minor-attracted persons (MAPs) by examining how the general public perceives MAPs and how this marries with how MAPs perceive the public to view them. We also examined what effect these perceptions have on the wellbeing and help-seeking behaviours of MAPs. The study used a cross-sectional, between-groups design, with data collected via an anonymous online survey. Two samples were collected: a sample of MAPs recruited from online forums Virtuous Pedophiles and B4Uact (n = 94); and a sample of the general public recruited using the paid survey platform Prolific (n = 98). We found that the general public had generally negative views of MAPs in relation to ideas of dangerousness, disgust, unpredictability and untrustworthiness. This was consistent with how MAPs thought the general public would perceive them. We also found that MAPs had significantly lower levels of wellbeing than the general public, except for negative emotions and loneliness for which there was no significant difference. Internalised and externalised stigma was found to be associated with wellbeing of MAPs, with internalised stigma having a stronger relationship with wellbeing than externalised stigma. Both internalised and externalised stigma were not found to be associated with actual help-seeking however internalised stigma was associated with considering seeking help. The results from this study largely support an existing theoretical framework of stigma-related stress developed for MAPs (Jahnke et al., 2015), except for how barriers to treatment are conceptualised in the framework, due to no significant association with stigma and actual help-seeking

E-Mobility: dynamic mono-phase loads control during charging session of electric vehicles

This paper presents the primary objective of a research project which aims at enhancing the world of e-mobility by highlighting the continuous evolution and demand of the Electric Vehicle (EV) in modern cities and the consequent need for more and more innovative charging systems. Here we focused on a current and incoming EV drawback, namely the variety of EV charging methods which are currently available in the market. An adaptive solution, which is suitable for both domestic and working environments, is presented, where single-phase recharging points are applied with non-high power. The task is to provide a user-friendly support for any end-user who wants to acquaintance with the EV world. Three stages are characterizing this approach: (1) the search for new solutions for the charging of electric vehicles, (2) the finalization and achievement of the proof of concept and product, (3) a set of functional tests (i.e. the validation). The proposed product is preserved from electric blackout during the EV recharging phase within a typical daily life domestic activity: this result is achieved through a combination of smart devices, an intelligent framework and the charging point. An optimized calculation program supervises this architecture and it allows the real-time interaction and communication between all the components by carrying out a dynamic control of the loads

Control Design for Interval Type-2 Fuzzy Systems Under Imperfect Premise Matching

Abstract—This paper focuses on designing interval type-2 (IT2) control for nonlinear systems subject to parameter uncertainties. To facilitate the stability analysis and control synthesis, an IT2 TS fuzzy model is employed to represent the dynamics of nonlinear systems of which the parameter uncertainties are captured by IT2 membership functions characterized by the lower and upper membership functions. A novel IT2 fuzzy controller is proposed to perform the control process, where the membership functions and number of rules can be freely chosen and different from those of the IT2 T-S fuzzy model. Consequently, the IT2 fuzzymodel- based (FMB) control system is with imperfectly matched membership functions, which hinders the stability analysis. To relax the stability analysis for this class of IT2 FMB control systems, the information of footprint of uncertainties, and the lower and upper membership functions are taken into account for the stability analysis. Based on the Lyapunov stability theory, some stability conditions in terms of linear matrix inequalities are obtained to determine the system stability and achieve the control design. Finally, simulation and experimental examples are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness and the merit of the proposed approach

Modular integration of a 3 DoF F/T sensor for robotic manipulators

Robot assisted surgery and minimally invasive robotic surgery inherently entail that the hands of the surgeon indirectly interact with the patient tissues and organs even if the operator is out of the affected body. Hence, transferring sensor information from the inside of the patient to the outside of the surgeon may certainly improve the perception of the robotic enduser. To this aim – within the EU framework of the STIFF-FLOP project (STIFFness controllable Flexible and Learnable Manipulator for Surgical Operations), we developed a novel design of miniaturized and magnetic resonance compatible sensors for force and torque real-time measurements in robotic surgery. The sensor design has a hollow shape, whose geometry allows its integration and embedding within snake-like surgical robots and modular devices. According to typical requirements and specifications of a surgical procedure, the sensor operates in a range of force and torque of 0-5 N and 0-5 N⋅cm, respectively. Due to a customized tool and calibration procedure, an error of less than 15% of sensor range can be obtained. This novel transducer may advance force and haptic feedback in robot assisted and minimally invasive surgeries

Design of a Granular Jamming Universal Gripper

Robotic gripper design has been an active research area because of its widespread in robotics applications and its high demand in the today’s healthcare automation market. Here we propose the design, integration and preliminary experiments of a universal gripper based on granular jamming: the prototype is based on low cost components and it can be easily assembled and used for a variety of task, including grasping of daily life objects in a domestic context. The paper presents a set of technical solutions where different type of granules are used and combined with different actuation (i.e. an electric vacuum pump, a medical syringe and manual actuation). Experimental trials performed under the different configurations show that a set of 8 daily-life objects can be firmly grasped with a 100% successful rate by means of an end-effector whose cost is less than 20 $. This represents a novelty in current market of robotic end-effectors and offers the possibility of low-cost robotics for daily life applications in medical application

Teachers’ Perceptions of Teacher–Child Relationships, Student Behavior, and Classroom Management

Children’s relationships with their teachers are a potential resource for enhancing developmental and academic outcomes. The effects of positive or negative teacher–child relationships can be either beneficial or detrimental to students’ academic progress, behaviors, and emotions. In the current study, we utilized a qualitative research design to examine 18 pre-kindergarten to fourth-grade teachers’ perceptions of teacher–child relationships, student behavior, and classroom management. Analysis of in-depth interviews yielded five major themes: (a) beliefs in children, (b) teaching strategies, (c) acknowledging individual differences, (d) challenges, and (e) relationships. Findings of this study have the potential to inform in-service training regarding relationship-building skills and attending to children’s social-emotional development. We discuss the limitations of the study, implications for professional school counselors, and recommendations for future research