UAS See-and-Avoid using two different approaches of Fuzzy Control

This work presents two UAS See and Avoid approaches using Fuzzy Control. We compare the performance of each controller when a Cross-Entropy method is applied to optimase the parameters for one of the controllers. Each controller receive information from an image processing front-end that detect and track targets in the environment. Visual information is then used under a visual servoing approach to perform autonomous avoidance. Experimental flight trials using a small quadrotor were performed to validate and compare the behaviour of both controllers

Evaluation of the control of carbon emissions of construction facilities in Hong Kong

This paper investigates the policies and instruments adopted in Hong Kong to control the carbon emissions of construction facilities, including the whole building life cycle: production of material stage, construction stage, operation stage and demolition stage. This commences with a literature review comparing activities world-wide to those in Hong Kong to identify the main issues at stake, followed by a report on a series of local interviews to evaluate the present situation in Hong Kong, as well as future opportunities for local carbon mitigation. The interviewees included practitioners from engineering contracting firms, consulting firms, clients and energy provider, together with two university experts and a counsellor. A small case study is also provided of a building project in Hong Kong to illustrate some of the innovative design aspects being incorporated into buildings in Hong Kong as a result of the current emphasis on sustainability. The paper concludes with a summary of main findings and proposals for improvement in policy related to carbon mitigation and building sustainability in Hong Kong.

Analysis and correction of voltage profile in low voltage distribution networks containing photovoltaic cells and electric vehicles

Voltage drop and rise at network peak and off–peak periods along with voltage unbalance are the major power quality problems in low voltage distribution networks. Usually, the utilities try to use adjusting the transformer tap changers as a solution for the voltage drop. They also try to distribute the loads equally as a solution for network voltage unbalance problem. On the other hand, the ever increasing energy demand, along with the necessity of cost reduction and higher reliability requirements, are driving the modern power systems towards Distributed Generation (DG) units. This can be in the form of small rooftop photovoltaic cells (PV), Plug–in Electric Vehicles (PEVs) or Micro Grids (MGs). Rooftop PVs, typically with power levels ranging from 1–5 kW installed by the householders are gaining popularity due to their financial benefits for the householders. Also PEVs will be soon emerged in residential distribution networks which behave as a huge residential load when they are being charged while in their later generation, they are also expected to support the network as small DG units which transfer the energy stored in their battery into grid. Furthermore, the MG which is a cluster of loads and several DG units such as diesel generators, PVs, fuel cells and batteries are recently introduced to distribution networks. The voltage unbalance in the network can be increased due to the uncertainties in the random connection point of the PVs and PEVs to the network, their nominal capacity and time of operation. Therefore, it is of high interest to investigate the voltage unbalance in these networks as the result of MGs, PVs and PEVs integration to low voltage networks. In addition, the network might experience non–standard voltage drop due to high penetration of PEVs, being charged at night periods, or non–standard voltage rise due to high penetration of PVs and PEVs generating electricity back into the grid in the network off–peak periods. In this thesis, a voltage unbalance sensitivity analysis and stochastic evaluation is carried out for PVs installed by the householders versus their installation point, their nominal capacity and penetration level as different uncertainties. A similar analysis is carried out for PEVs penetration in the network working in two different modes: Grid to vehicle and Vehicle to grid. Furthermore, the conventional methods are discussed for improving the voltage unbalance within these networks. This is later continued by proposing new and efficient improvement methods for voltage profile improvement at network peak and off–peak periods and voltage unbalance reduction. In addition, voltage unbalance reduction is investigated for MGs and new improvement methods are proposed and applied for the MG test bed, planned to be established at Queensland University of Technology (QUT). MATLAB and PSCAD/EMTDC simulation softwares are used for verification of the analyses and the proposals.

Socioeconomic inequalities in weight status among mid-aged adults : the contribution of perceptions of weight status and weight-control behaviours

Background Socioeconomically-disadvantaged adults in developed countries experience a higher prevalence of a number of chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, osteoarthritis and some forms of cancer. Overweight and obesity are major risk factors for these diseases. Lower socioeconomic groups have a greater prevalence of overweight and obesity and this may contribute to their higher morbidity and mortality. International studies suggest that socioeconomic groups may differ in their self-perceptions of weight status and their engagement in weightcontrol behaviours (WCBs). Research has shown that lower socioeconomic adults are more likely to underestimate their weight status, and are less likely to engage in WCBs. This may contribute (in part) to the marked inequalities in weight status observed at the population level. There are few, and somewhat limited, Australian studies that have examined the types of weight-control strategies people adopt, the barriers to their weight control, the determinants of their perceived weight status and WCBs. Furthermore, there are no known Australian studies that have examined socioeconomic differences in these factors to better understand the reasons for socioeconomic inequalities in weight status. Hence, the overall aim of this Thesis is to examine why socioeconomically-disadvantaged group experience a greater prevalence of overweight and obesity than their more-advantaged counterparts. Methods This Thesis used data from two sources. Men and women aged 45 to 60 years were examined from both data source. First, the longitudinal Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle (AusDiab) Study were used to advance our knowledge and understanding of socioeconomic differences in weight change, perceived weight status and WCBs. A total of 2753 participants with measured weights at both baseline (1999-2000) and follow-up (2004-2005) were included in the analyses. Percent weight change over the five-year interval was calculated and perceived weight status, WCBs and highest attained education were collected at baseline. Second, the Candidate conducted a postal questionnaire from 1013 Brisbane residents (69.8 % response rate) to investigate the relationship between socioeconomic position, determinants of perceived weight status, WCBs, and barriers and reasons to weight control. A test-retest reliability study was conducted to determine the reliability of the new measures used in the questionnaire. Most new measures had substantial to almost perfect reliability when considering either kappa coefficient or crude agreement. Results The findings from the AusDiab Study (accepted for publication in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health) showed that low-educated men and women were more likely to be obese at baseline compared to their higheducated respondents (O.R. = 1.97, 95 % C.I. = 1.30-2.98 and O.R. = 1.52, 95 % C.I. = 1.03-2.25, respectively). Over the five year follow-up period (1999-2000 to 2004- 05) there were no socioeconomic differences in weight change among men, however socioeconomically-disadvantaged women had greater weight gains. Participants perceiving themselves as overweight gained less weight than those who saw themselves as underweight or normal weight. There was no relationship between engaging in WCBs and five-year weight change. The postal questionnaire data showed that socioeconomically-disadvantaged groups were less likely to engage in WCBs. If they did engage in weight control, they were less likely to adopt exercise strategies, including moderate and vigorous physical activities but were more likely to decrease their sitting time to control their weight. Socioeconomically-disadvantaged adults reported more barriers to weight control; such as perceiving weight loss as expensive, requiring a lot of cooking skills, not being a high priority and eating differently from other people in the household. These results have been accepted for publication in Public Health Nutrition. The third manuscript (under review in Social Science and Medicine) examined socioeconomic differences in determinants of perceived weight status and reasons for weight control. The results showed that lower socioeconomic adults were more likely to specify the following reasons for weight control: they considered themselves to be too heavy, for occupational requirements, on recommendation from their doctor, family members or friends. Conversely, high-income adults were more likely to report weight control to improve their physical condition or to look more attractive compared with those on lower-incomes. There were few socioeconomic differences in the determinants of perceived weight status. Conclusions Education inequalities in overweight/obesity among men and women may be due to mis-perceptions of weight status; overweight or obese individuals in loweducated groups may not perceive their weight as problematic and therefore may not pay attention to their energy-balance behaviours. Socioeconomic groups differ in WCBs, and their reasons and perceived barriers to weight control. Health promotion programs should encourage weight control among lower socioeconomic groups. More specifically, they should encourage the engagement of physical activity or exercise and dietary strategies among disadvantaged groups. Furthermore, such programs should address potential barriers for weight control that disadvantaged groups may encounter. For example, disadvantaged groups perceive that weight control is expensive, requires cooking skills, not a high priority and eating differently from other people in the household. Lastly, health promotion programs and policies aimed at reducing overweight and obesity should be tailored to the different reasons and motivations to weight control experienced by different socioeconomic groups. Weight-control interventions targeted at higher socioeconomic groups should use improving physical condition and attractiveness as motivational goals; while, utilising social support may be more effective for encouraging weight control among lower socioeconomic groups.

High-voltage modular power supply using parallel and series configurations of flyback converter for pulsed power applications

To cover wide range of pulsed power applications, this paper proposes a modularity concept to improve the performance and flexibility of the pulsed power supply. The proposed scheme utilizes the advantage of parallel and series configurations of flyback modules in obtaining high-voltage levels with fast rise time (dv/dt). Prototypes were implemented using 600-V insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) switches to generate up to 4-kV output pulses with 1-kHz repetition rate for experimentation. To assess the proposed modular approach for higher number of the modules, prototypes were implemented using 1700-V IGBTs switches, based on ten-series modules, and tested up to 20 kV. Conducted experimental results verified the effectiveness of the proposed method

Control and application of minimally-actuated underwater vehicles

Establishing a persistent presence in the ocean with an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle capable of observing temporal variability of large-scale ocean processes requires a unique sensor platform. In this paper, we examine the utility of Lagrangian profiling floats for such extended deployments. We propose a strategy that utilizes ocean model predictions to facilitate a basic level of autonomy to achieve general control of this minimally-actuated underwater vehicle. We extend experimentally validated techniques for utilising ocean current models to control under-actuated autonomous underwater vehicles by presenting this investigation into the application of these methods on profiling floats. With the appropriate vertical actuation, and utilising spatiotemporal variations in water speed and direction, we show that broad controllability results can be met. First, we apply an A* planner to a local controllability map generated from predictions of ocean currents. This computes a path between start and goal waypoints that has the highest likelihood of successful execution over a given duration. The computed depth plan is generated with a model predictive controller, and selects the depths for the vehicle so that ambient currents guide it toward the goal. Mission constraints are included to simulate and motivate a practical data collection mission. Results are presented in simulation for a mission off the coast of Los Angeles, CA USA, that show surprising results in the ability of a drifting vehicle to maintain a prescribed course and reach a desired location.

System identification, estimation and control for a cost effective open-source quadcopter

This paper describes system identification, estimation and control of translational motion and heading angle for a cost effective open-source quadcopter — the MikroKopter. The dynamics of its built-in sensors, roll and pitch attitude controller, and system latencies are determined and used to design a computationally inexpensive multi-rate velocity estimator that fuses data from the built-in inertial sensors and a low-rate onboard laser range finder. Control is performed using a nested loop structure that is also computationally inexpensive and incorporates different sensors. Experimental results for the estimator and closed-loop positioning are presented and compared with ground truth from a motion capture system.

Frank-starling control of a left ventricular assist device

A physiological control system was developed for a rotary left ventricular assist device (LVAD) in which the target pump flow rate (LVADQ) was set as a function of left atrial pressure (LAP), mimicking the Frank-Starling mechanism. The control strategy was implemented using linear PID control and was evaluated in a pulsatile mock circulation loop using a prototyped centrifugal pump by varying pulmonary vascular resistance to alter venous return. The control strategy automatically varied pump speed (2460 to 1740 to 2700 RPM) in response to a decrease and subsequent increase in venous return. In contrast, a fixed-speed pump caused a simulated ventricular suction event during low venous return and higher ventricular volumes during high venous return. The preload sensitivity was increased from 0.011 L/min/mmHg in fixed speed mode to 0.47L/min/mmHg, a value similar to that of the native healthy heart. The sensitivity varied automatically to maintain the LAP and LVADQ within a predefined zone. This control strategy requires the implantation of a pressure sensor in the left atrium and a flow sensor around the outflow cannula of the LVAD. However, appropriate pressure sensor technology is not yet commercially available and so an alternative measure of preload such as pulsatility of pump signals should be investigated.

Canadian Crime Control in the New Millennium: The Influence of Neo-conservative U.S. Policies and Practices

An important issue facing Canadians today is crime control and prevention. Research done in the late 1980s and early 1990s by three sociologists shows that Canadian federal criminal justice policies and practices adopted by the Mulroney government from 1984 to 1990 were inconsistent with US ‘law and order’ models in place at that time. However, since the mid‐1990s, Canadian federal and provincial governments have mimicked some US authoritarian and gender‐blind means of curbing crime. The main objective of this paper is to provide some key examples of criminal justice policy transfer from the USA in Canada. At first glance, Canada may appear to be a ‘kinder, gentler nation,’ but not to the extent assumed by many, if not most, outside observers.

The Globalisation of Crime Control: The Case of Youth and Juvenille Justice

The concept of globalization has gradually permeated criminology, but more so as applied to transnational organized crime, international terrorism and policing than in addressing processes of criminal justice reform. Based on a wide range of bibliographic and web resources, this article assesses the extent to which a combination of neo-liberal assaults on the social logics of the welfare state and public provision, widespread experimentation with restorative justice and the prospect of rehabilitation through mediation and widely ratified international directives, epitomized by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, have now made it possible to talk of a global juvenile/youth justice. Conversely it also reflects on how persistent national and local divergences, together with the contradictions of contemporary reform, may preclude any aspiration for the delivery of a universal and consensual product