Embedded System Design of Robot Control Architectures for Unmanned Agricultural Ground Vehicles

Engineering technology has matured to the extent where accompanying methods for unmanned field management is now becoming a technologically achievable and economically viable solution to agricultural tasks that have been traditionally performed by humans or human operated machines. Additionally, the rapidly increasing world population and the daunting burden it places on farmers in regards to the food production and crop yield demands, only makes such advancements in the agriculture industry all the more imperative. Consequently, the sector is beginning to observe a noticeable shift, where there exist a number of scalable infrastructural changes that are in the process of slowly being implemented onto the modular machinery design of agricultural equipment. This work is being pursued in effort to provide firmware descriptions and hardware architectures that integrate cutting edge technology onto the embedded control architectures of agricultural machinery designs to assist in achieving the end goal of complete and reliable unmanned agricultural automation. In this thesis, various types of autonomous control algorithms integrated with obstacle avoidance or guidance schemes, were implemented onto controller area network (CAN) based distributive real-time systems (DRTSs) in form of the two unmanned agricultural ground vehicles (UAGVs). Both vehicles are tailored to different applications in the agriculture domain as they both leverage state-of-the-art sensors and modules to attain the end objective of complete autonomy to allow for the automation of various types of agricultural related tasks. The further development of the embedded system design of these machines called for the developed firmware and hardware to be implemented onto both an event triggered and time triggered CAN bus control architecture as each robot employed its own separate embedded control scheme. For the first UAGV, a multiple GPS waypoint navigation scheme is derived, developed, and evaluated to yield a fully controllable GPS-driven vehicle. Additionally, obstacle detection and avoidance capabilities were also implemented onto the vehicle to serve as a safety layer for the robot control architecture, giving the ground vehicle the ability to reliability detect and navigate around any obstacles that may happen to be in the vicinity of the assigned path. The second UAGV was a smaller robot designed for field navigation applications. For this robot, a fully autonomous sensor based algorithm was proposed and implemented onto the machine. It is demonstrated that the utilization and implementation of laser, LIDAR, and IMU sensors onto a mobile robot platform allowed for the realization of a fully autonomous non-GPS sensor based algorithm to be employed for field navigation. The developed algorithm can serve as a viable solution for the application of microclimate sensing in a field. Advisors: A. John Boye and Santosh Pitl

Embedded System Design of Robot Control Architectures for Unmanned Agricultural Ground Vehicles

Engineering technology has matured to the extent where accompanying methods for unmanned field management is now becoming a technologically achievable and economically viable solution to agricultural tasks that have been traditionally performed by humans or human operated machines. Additionally, the rapidly increasing world population and the daunting burden it places on farmers in regards to the food production and crop yield demands, only makes such advancements in the agriculture industry all the more imperative. Consequently, the sector is beginning to observe a noticeable shift, where there exist a number of scalable infrastructural changes that are in the process of slowly being implemented onto the modular machinery design of agricultural equipment. This work is being pursued in effort to provide firmware descriptions and hardware architectures that integrate cutting edge technology onto the embedded control architectures of agricultural machinery designs to assist in achieving the end goal of complete and reliable unmanned agricultural automation. In this thesis, various types of autonomous control algorithms integrated with obstacle avoidance or guidance schemes, were implemented onto controller area network (CAN) based distributive real-time systems (DRTSs) in form of the two unmanned agricultural ground vehicles (UAGVs). Both vehicles are tailored to different applications in the agriculture domain as they both leverage state-of-the-art sensors and modules to attain the end objective of complete autonomy to allow for the automation of various types of agricultural related tasks. The further development of the embedded system design of these machines called for the developed firmware and hardware to be implemented onto both an event triggered and time triggered CAN bus control architecture as each robot employed its own separate embedded control scheme. For the first UAGV, a multiple GPS waypoint navigation scheme is derived, developed, and evaluated to yield a fully controllable GPS-driven vehicle. Additionally, obstacle detection and avoidance capabilities were also implemented onto the vehicle to serve as a safety layer for the robot control architecture, giving the ground vehicle the ability to reliability detect and navigate around any obstacles that may happen to be in the vicinity of the assigned path. The second UAGV was a smaller robot designed for field navigation applications. For this robot, a fully autonomous sensor based algorithm was proposed and implemented onto the machine. It is demonstrated that the utilization and implementation of laser, LIDAR, and IMU sensors onto a mobile robot platform allowed for the realization of a fully autonomous non-GPS sensor based algorithm to be employed for field navigation. The developed algorithm can serve as a viable solution for the application of microclimate sensing in a field. Advisors: A. John Boye and Santosh Pitl

Social pedagogy, music making and adopted children

Social pedagogy has become a common feature of CPD training for staff working with looked after children and adopted children. Social workers, foster carers and adoptive parents use the characteristic features of social pedagogical practice to develop meaningful relationships with a young person in care. Creative elements such as music have been noted to be useful activities in which both parties (children and support worker) can share a common interest and partake within a joint activity. This article sets out to examine the way in which a community music project working with adopted children and their adoptive parents uses social pedagogy and the impact that this may have on the participants. A case study strategy is used to examine the Loud and Clear adoption family learning project at Sage Gateshead, through which a multi-methodological approach was used, including interviews and participatory action research to gather participants’ and facilitators’ narratives of the impacts the sessions and approaches were having. Furthermore, participatory observations were also undertaken to see at first hand the social pedagogical approaches that the facilitators were using within sessions. Findings from the study indicated that having the opportunity to participate in a joint musical activity was key to helping children and adoptive parents develop their attachments to one another. Similarly, through facilitators providing opportunities for the group to socialise, adoptive parents were able to develop a support network that they felt would have been lacking within their lives. Both of these findings indicate the impact of adopting the common third approach to music making

A critical discourse analysis of the Sounding Board journals: Examining the concepts of ownership, empowerment and transformation in community music discourse

Language plays a vital role in shaping our actions and understanding of the world. Scholars refer to the interaction of language and action under the heading of ‘discourse’, a feature within all practices. Community music as a field of scholarship and practice is nuanced and diverse and, as such, so is our discourse. As practitioners and researchers, we may find ourselves using terms and phrases with little understanding of how these terms have been used within our discourse. Recognising that the concepts of ownership, empowerment and transformation have become commonly drawn upon in community music literature, this article outlines a critical discourse analysis of Sound Sense UK’s Sounding Board journals, which examines how these three concepts have been used in community music discourse in the UK, alongside possible implications for practice. The Sounding Board journals were one of the first publication platforms dedicated solely to community music. Since they were first published in 1990, they have played a crucial role in supporting the development of the field, providing a platform to share the latest reports on projects and research. As a step towards deconstructing the language in community music discourse, it is hoped that this article may influence researchers and practitioners to analyse their language when writing critically about community music. Keywords: ownership, empowerment, transformation, critical discourse analysis, policy and well-bein

Accommodation of the human lens capsule using a finite element model based on nonlinear regionally anisotropic biomembranes

Accommodation of the eyes, the mechanism that allows humans to focus their vision on near objects, naturally diminishes with age via presbyopia. People who have undergone cataract surgery, using current surgical methods and artificial lens implants, are also left without the ability to accommodate. The process of accommodation is generally well known; however the specific mechanical details have not been adequately explained due to difficulties and consequences of performing in vivo studies. Most studies have modeled the mechanics of accommodation under assumptions of a linearly elastic, isotropic, homogenous lens and lens capsule. Recent experimental and numerical studies showed that the lens capsule exhibits nonlinear elasticity and regional anisotropy. In this paper we present a numerical model of human accommodation using a membrane theory based finite element approach, incorporating recent findings on capsular properties. This study seeks to provide a novel perspective of the mechanics of accommodation. Such findings may prove significant in seeking biomedical solutions to restoring loss of visual power

Evaluating candidate reactions to selection practices using organisational justice theory

Objectives: This study aimed to examine candidate reactions to selection practices in postgraduate medical training using organisational justice theory. Methods: We carried out three independent cross-sectional studies using samples from three consecutive annual recruitment rounds. Data were gathered from candidates applying for entry into UK general practice (GP) training during 2007, 2008 and 2009. Participants completed an evaluation questionnaire immediately after the short-listing stage and after the selection centre (interview) stage. Participants were doctors applying for GP training in the UK. Main outcome measures were participants’ evaluations of the selection methods and perceptions of the overall fairness of each selection stage (short-listing and selection centre). Results: A total of 23 855 evaluation questionnaires were completed (6893 in 2007, 10 497 in 2008 and 6465 in 2009). Absolute levels of perceptions of fairness of all the selection methods at both the short-listing and selection centre stages were consistently high over the 3 years. Similarly, all selection methods were considered to be job-related by candidates. However, in general, candidates considered the selection centre stage to be significantly fairer than the short-listing stage. Of all the selection methods, the simulated patient consultation completed at the selection centre stage was rated as the most job-relevant. Conclusions: This is the first study to use a model of organisational justice theory to evaluate candidate reactions during selection into postgraduate specialty training. The high-fidelity selection methods are consistently viewed as more job-relevant and fairer by candidates. This has important implications for the design of recruitment systems for all specialties and, potentially, for medical school admissions. Using this approach, recruiters can systematically compare perceptions of the fairness and job relevance of various selection methods

Regional mechanical properties and stress analysis of the human anterior lens capsule

The lens capsule of the eye functions, in part, as a deformable support through which the ciliary body applies tractions that can alter lens curvature and corresponding refractive power during the process of accommodation. Although it has long been recognized that characterization of the mechanical properties of the lens capsule is fundamental to understanding this physiologic process as well as clinical interventions, prior data have been limited by one-dimensional testing of excised specimens despite the existence of multiaxial loading in vivo. In this paper, we employ a novel experimental approach to study in situ the regional, multiaxial mechanical behavior of both normal and diabetic human anterior lens capsules. Furthermore, we use these data to calculate material parameters in a nonlinear stress– strain relation via a custom sub-domain inverse finite element method (FEM). These parameters are then used to predict capsular stresses in response to imposed loads using a forward FEM model. Our results for both normal and diabetic human eyes show that the anterior lens capsule exhibits a nonlinear pseudoelastic behavior over finite strains that is typical of soft tissues, and that strains are principal relative to meridional and circumferential directions. Experimental data and parameter estimation suggest further that the capsule is regionally anisotropic, with the circumferential direction becoming increasingly stiffer than the meridional direction towards the equator. Although both normal and diabetic lens capsules exhibited these general characteristic behaviors, diabetic capsules were significantly stiffer at each distension. Finally, the forward FEM model predicted a nearly uniform, equibiaxial stress field during normalcy that will be perturbed by cataract surgery. Such mechanical perturbations may be an underlying modulator of the sustained errant epithelial cell behavior that is observed well after cataract surgery and may ultimately contribute to opacification of the posterior lens capsule

Music making and the potential impact for looked after children

Across the United Kingdom, numerous music projects are working with looked after children and their support networks. However, there is very little research around the impact that participating in music making has on looked after children, particularly in helping them overcome difficulties in their lives and the broader impact that this engagement has on their family. This study examines the impact that music making has for a looked after child by exploring the following questions: • What, if any, are the holistic benefits that engaging in music projects has for a child in looked after care? • What impact do these holistic benefits have for the family/support unit in the child’s lives? • How are facilitators and organisations developing and running projects, in order to meet the musical needs as well as the development/care needs of the child? Case studies of three projects contributed to the data collection: (1) SoundLINCS Fusion project, providing musical training for looked after children’s support workers based in Lincolnshire, (2) Loud and Clear Foster family learning, a project based in the North East of England working with foster children (aged 0-5 years of age) in a weekly music project, and (3) Loud and Clear Adoption family learning, a project based in the North East of England working with children going through the adoption process (aged 0-5 years of age) in a weekly music project. With these organisations, focus groups, interviews and participatory observations were undertaken. The research may provide practitioners with an understanding of the importance that music can play within participants’ lives, helping them build attachments with family members, workforce staff and peers, ideally extending into the everyday life. A currently underexplored area within community music, this research aims to provide insight into how engaging in music projects can become an important and integral part of looked after children’s everyday life

What we say and what we do an examination into the discourse of community music and its interrelation with cultural policy

Ownership, empowerment and transformation are three concepts that have gained prominence in the discourse of community music. As a collective group of concepts, they represent a myriad of interpretations, possibilities and influences. Community musicians and music organisations now rely on using these three concepts in evaluation reports to demonstrate the value and impact of their work to funders and policymakers. However, as buzzwords, their usage has become interchangeable, and the meaning and knowledge of how they manifest in practice have become unclear. This research aims to critically explore the relationship between community music and cultural policy by examining how ownership, empowerment and transformation are used in community music discourse. A range of research methods are employed to undertake this study. Firstly, conceptual analysis, where I develop three conceptual lenses, language, practice, and policy, to explore how the use of these three concepts has changed and developed in alignment with social and cultural policy agendas and the fundamental theories underpinning each of these domains. Secondly, through focus groups, interviews and participatory observations, a case study design helps reveal how community musicians operationalise these concepts. In conclusion, this research provides a lens through which to explore the discourse of community music and its interconnection with cultural policy, examining the effects that policies have on the language and practices of community musicians and how they recognise the impact and value of their work

Dilemmas in doing insider research in professional education

This article explores the dilemmas I encountered when researching social work education in England as an insider researcher who was simultaneously employed as an educator in the host institution. This was an ethnographic project deploying multiple methods and generating rich case study material which informed the student textbook Becoming a Social Worker the four-year period of the project. First, ethical dilemmas emerged around informed consent and confidentiality when conducting surveys of students and reading their portfolios. Second, professional dilemmas stemmed from the ways in which my roles as a researcher, academic tutor, social worker and former practice educator converged and collided. Third, political dilemmas pertained to the potential for the project to crystallize and convey conflicts among stakeholders in the university and community. Since the majority of research in social work education is conducted by insiders, we have a vital interest in making sense of such complexity