The indelible ink of the special stamp: an insider’s research essay on imprints and erasures

The medical profession ascribes otherness to people with disabilities through diagnosis and expertism, which sets in motion discursive powers that oversee their exclusion through schooling and beyond. In this paper, I present a narrative pieced together from personal experiences of ducking and weaving the deficit discourse in ‘inclusive’ education, when seeking employment and in day-to-day family interaction as a person with severely impaired vision. This work builds on previous qualitative research I conducted in Queensland, Australia with a group of young people with impaired vision who attended an inclusive secondary school. I frame this discussion using Foucault’s conception of normalising judgement against the hegemony of normalcy, and consider that inclusion for people with disabilities is reminiscent of a haunting. Through this analysis, I demonstrate how my ideology is formed, and how it in turn shapes a research agenda geared toward seeking greater inclusion for young people with disabilities in schools.

Node localization using mobile robots in delay-tolerant sensor networks

We present a novel scheme for node localization in a Delay-Tolerant Sensor Network (DTN). In a DTN, sensor devices are often organized in network clusters that may be mutually disconnected. Some mobile robots may be used to collect data from the network clusters. The key idea in our scheme is to use this robot to perform location estimation for the sensor nodes it passes based on the signal strength of the radio messages received from them. Thus, we eliminate the processing constraints of static sensor nodes and the need for static reference beacons. Our mathematical contribution is the use of a Robust Extended Kalman Filter (REKF)-based state estimator to solve the localization. Compared to the standard extended Kalman filter, REKF is computationally efficient and also more robust. Finally, we have implemented our localization scheme on a hybrid sensor network test bed and show that it can achieve node localization accuracy within 1m in a large indoor setting.

State sovereignty and migration control: the ultimate act of discrimination?

Nations zealously guard their borders and carefully vet migrants. This consigns many people to live in states not of their choice and often diminishes their opportunities and their level of flourishing. In some cases it is the difference between life and death. The practice of imposing migration controls is discriminatory. In fact it is the ultimate form of discrimination: 'super-discrimination.' There is no logical or moral reason why non-nationals of a state should not have the same opportunities and freedoms as nationals in that state. One of the most common forms of discrimination is race - treating a person differently simply because of their place of birth. This is one of the clearest and most repugnant forms of discrimination because the location where a person is born is of course merely a happy or unhappy circumstance over which the individual has no control. An accident of birth should not qualify a person for extra privileges or opportunities. The world is a fairer place if to the maximum extent possible luck is taken out of the process for allocating benefits and burdens - which ought to be distributed on the basis of merit and dessert. This paper examines whether there are sound reasons for restricting the flow of world-wide people movement. The main arguments in favour of this policy, relating to security and national building, are ultimately flawed. This exposes a tragic irony given the great efforts that many Western states - which typically have the strongest migration controls - make to stamp out discrimination at the domestic level, and the vast array of international law anti-discrimination instruments, loudly trumpeted by Western nations. This is hypocrisy nearing its finest. The substratum of sovereign states upon which available international law is built is inherently discriminatory and in fact is probably responsible for more harm as a result of the innately discriminatory immigration policies than results from the cumulative operation of all domestic discrimination. The world should move towards loosening migration controls. This would have an enormous number of humanistic benefits, not the least of which is largely eradicating world hunger and poverty.

Partial-state observers for nonlinear systems

This note deals with the design of reduced-order observers for a class of nonlinear systems. The order reduction of the observer is achieved by only estimating a required partial set of the state vector. Necessary and sufficient conditions are derived for the existence of reduced-order observers. An observer design procedure based on linear matrix inequalities is given. A numerical example is given to illustrate the design method.

Automating the construction of replicated objects in a cluster of workstations

This paper describes a tool that mimics the design of the remote procedure call (RPC) system to support the building of replicated objects in a cluster of workstations (COW). The tool includes an interface definition language for describing a replica group, a language preprocessor and a runtime library system. The paper also presents one example and discusses some performance issues for replicated objects.

Multi-agent model for robotic assembly system

In this paper, a multi-agent based model for a robotic assembly system is presented. Firstly, an organization model is used to construct the multi-agent model. Secondly, a dynamic self-organizing method is then put forward for the multi-agent robotic system to bid and contract the operations. Thirdly, a real multi-agent robotic system is built and assembly experiments are carried out. Finally, the experimental results confirm that the present multi-agent robotic system has flexibility, adaptation and stability.

An active stereo vision-based learning approach for robotic tracking, fixating and grasping control

In this paper, an active stereo vision-based learning approach is proposed for a robot to track, fixate and grasp an object in unknown environments. First, the functional mapping relationships between the joint angles of the active stereo vision system and the spatial representations of the object are derived and expressed in a three-dimensional workspace frame. Next, the self-adaptive resonance theory-based neural networks and the feedforward neural networks are used to learn the mapping relationships in a self-organized way. Then, the approach is verified by simulation using the models of an active stereo vision system which is installed in the end-effector of a robot. Finally, the simulation results confirm the effectiveness of the present approach.

A reinforcement learning approach for robot control in an unknown environment

In this paper, a control approach based on reinforcement learning is present for a robot to complete a dynamic task in an unknown environment. First, a temporal difference-based reinforcement learning algorithm and its evaluation function are used to make the robot learn with its trials and errors as well as experiences. Second, the simulation are carried out to adjust the parameters of the learning algorithm and determine an optimal policy by using the models of a robot. Last, the effectiveness of the present approach is demonstrated by balancing an inverse pendulum in the unknown environment.

An analysis of update ordering in a cluster of replicated servers

This paper analyses update ordering and its impact on the performance of a cluster of replicated servers. We propose a model for update orderings and constraints and develop a number of algorithms for implementing different ordering constraints. A performance study is then carried out to analyse the update ordering model.

Object oriented finite element analysis: a distributed approach to mesh generation

The object-oriented finite element method (OOFEM) has attracted the attention of many researchers. Compared with the traditional finite element method, OOFEM software has the advantages of maintenance and reuse. Moreover, it is easier to expand the architecture to a distributed one. In this paper, we introduce a distributed architecture of a object-oriented finite element preprocessor. A comparison between the distributed system and the centralised system shows that the former, presented in the paper, greatly improves the performance of mesh generation. Other finite element analysis modules could be expanded according to this architecture.

The design and development of an integrated system for object-oriented finite element computing

Finite Element Method (FEM) is widely used in Science and Engineering since 1960’s. The vast majority of FEM software is procedure-oriented. However, this conventional style of designing FEM software encounters problems in maintenance, reuse, and expansion of the software. Recently the object-oriented finite element method attracts the attention of lots of researchers, and now there is a growing interest in this method. In this paper, the object-oriented finite element (OOFE) is briefly introduced. Then the design and development of an integrated OOFE system is described. A comparison of the integrated OOFE system and a procedure-oriented system shows that our OOFE system has many advantages.

A web-DB model on multicast and anycast

Most of the current web-based database systems suffer from poor performance, complicated heterogeneity, and synchronization issues. In this paper, we propose a novel mechanism for web-based database system on multicast and anycast protocols to deal with these issues. In the model, we put a castway, a network interface for database server, between database server and Web server. Castway deals with the multicast and anycast requests and responses. We propose a requirement-based server selection algorithm and an atomic multicast update algorithm for data queries and synchronizations. The model is independent from the Internet environment, it can synchronise the databases efficiently and automatically. Furthermore, the model can reduce the possibility of transaction deadlocks.