Modeling, Control, and Hardware Development of a Thrust-Vector Coaxial UAV

This thesis introduces a unique thrust vector coaxial unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) configuration and presents a comprehensive investigation encompassing dynamics modeling, hardware design, and controller development. Using the Newton-Euler method, a dynamic model for the UAV is derived to gain in-depth insights into its fundamental flight characteristics. A simple thrust model is formulated and modified by comparing it with data obtained from vehicle testing. The feasibility of manufacturing such a vehicle is assessed through the development of a hardware prototype. Finally, a linear state feedback controller is designed and evaluated using the non-linear dynamics model. The results demonstrate successful validation of the hardware through flight tests. The initial thrust model is enhanced by two methods, incorporating correction factors derived from a regression line, and employing the system identification method based on the test stand data. Implementation of the linear state feedback controller effectively maintains attitude authority over a non-linear simulation of the vehicle. The limits of the controller are explored, and simulation highlights that the controller\u27s authority fails if the operating states deviate from the linearized region of attraction. Beyond the specific thrust vector coaxial UAV configuration, this research holds implications for enhancing UAV dynamics modeling, analysis, and control in broader applications

Protecting the past for the public good: archaeology and Australian heritage law

Archaeological remains have long been recognised as fragile evidence of the past, which require protection. Legal protection for archaeological heritage has existed in Australia for more than thirty years but there has been little analysis of the aims and effectiveness of that legislation by the archaeological profession. Much Australian heritage legislation was developed in a period where the dominant paradigm in archaeological theory and practice held that archaeology was an objective science. Australian legislative frameworks continue to strongly reflect this scientific paradigm and contemporary archaeological heritage management practice is in turn driven by these legislative requirements. This thesis examines whether archaeological heritage legislation is fulfilling its original intent. Analysis of legislative development in this thesis reveals that legislators viewed archaeological heritage as having a wide societal value, not solely or principally for the archaeological community. Archaeological heritage protection is considered within the broader philosophy of environmental conservation. As an environmental issue, it is suggested that a ‘public good’ conservation paradigm is closer to the original intent of archaeological heritage legislation, rather than the “scientific” paradigm which underlies much Australian legislation. Through investigation of the developmental history of Australian heritage legislation it is possible to observe how current practice has diverged from the original intent of the legislation, with New South Wales and Victoria serving as case studies. Further analysis is undertaken of the limited number of Australian court cases which have involved substantial archaeological issues to determine the court’s attitude to archaeological heritage protection. Situating archaeological heritage protective legislation within the field of environmental law allows the examination of alternate modes of protecting archaeological heritage and creates opportunities for ‘public good’ conservation outcomes. This shift of focus to ‘public good’ conservation as an alternative to narrowly-conceived scientific outcomes better aligns with current public policy directions including the sustainability principles, as they have developed in Australia, as well as indigenous rights of self-determination. The thesis suggests areas for legal reforms which direct future archaeological heritage management practice to consider the ‘public good’ values for archaeological heritage protection

The Development of the Academic Dress of the University of Oxford 1920–2012

One might expect that the well-trodden ground of Oxford academic dress would yield nothing new or surprising, but this is far from the truth. With an institution as old as Oxford, many onlookers assume that because they know Oxford’s traditions that they know Oxford’s rules and so do not need to consult statute. An excellent example is the number of undergraduates these days who profess that one may not wear the square cap until graduation, whereas the most cursory glance at University regulations would show their belief false. Also, I would argue that the academic dress of Oxford is of particular importance as its gowns and hoods are used as templates for many other universities in the United Kingdom and further afield. Thus an understanding of the nature and origin of the current state of academic dress is essential. [Excerpt]

Turkic Nasal Harmony as Surface Correspondence

Turkic languages are well known for syllable contact phenomena – sonority-driven processes where suffix-initial sonorants surface as obstruents in certain environments. These alternations interact with nasal harmony, a less studied phenomenon where underlying stops and nasals surface as nasals between two nasals. Nasal harmony is attested in about ten Turkic languages (Shor, various Khakas varieties, northern and southern Altay varieties, Kazakh, Qaraqalpaq, Noghay, possibly Karachay-Balkar, and Kazan and Siberian Tatar varieties), and it varies in its scope and how it interacts with syllable contact phenomena. In this paper, we provide a detailed description of nasal harmony in Kazakh, which has one of the richest nasal harmony systems, and explore an analysis within Surface Correspondence Theory

Silent Scream? The Life Histories of People Living with HIV in the North East of England

A research report on the life histories of people living with HIV in the North East of England. This research was conducted for Body Positive North East, an HIV charity, and it highlights the unique, personal and individual lives of people living with HIV. The report gives recommendations for the future, highlighting issues within healthcare stigma, the need for HIV recognition in employment and the invisibility of HIV within public discourse

Local forest structure variability increases resilience to wildfire in dry western U.S. coniferous forests.

A 'resilient' forest endures disturbance and is likely to persist. Resilience to wildfire may arise from feedback between fire behaviour and forest structure in dry forest systems. Frequent fire creates fine-scale variability in forest structure, which may then interrupt fuel continuity and prevent future fires from killing overstorey trees. Testing the generality and scale of this phenomenon is challenging for vast, long-lived forest ecosystems. We quantify forest structural variability and fire severity across >30 years and >1000 wildfires in California's Sierra Nevada. We find that greater variability in forest structure increases resilience by reducing rates of fire-induced tree mortality and that the scale of this effect is local, manifesting at the smallest spatial extent of forest structure tested (90 × 90 m). Resilience of these forests is likely compromised by structural homogenisation from a century of fire suppression, but could be restored with management that increases forest structural variability

Recognition and equal educational opportunities

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Microgravity condensing heat exchanger

A heat exchanger having a plurality of heat exchanging aluminum fins with hydrophilic condensing surfaces which are stacked and clamped between two cold plates. The cold plates are aligned radially along a plane extending through the axis of a cylindrical duct and hold the stacked and clamped portions of the heat exchanging fins along the axis of the cylindrical duct. The fins extend outwardly from the clamped portions along approximately radial planes. The spacing between fins is symmetric about the cold plates, and are somewhat more closely spaced as the angle they make with the cold plates approaches 90.degree.. Passageways extend through the fins between vertex spaces which provide capillary storage and communicate with passageways formed in the stacked and clamped portions of the fins, which communicate with water drains connected to a pump externally to the duct. Water with no entrained air is drawn from the capillary spaces