Hui Li and Cheng Zhong
This study aims to find a feasible precise navigation model for the planed Lunar rover. Autonomous navigation is one of the most important missions in the Chinese Lunar…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to find a feasible precise navigation model for the planed Lunar rover. Autonomous navigation is one of the most important missions in the Chinese Lunar exploration project. Machine vision is expected to be a promising option for this mission because of the dramatic development of an image processing technique. However, existing attempts are often subject to low accuracy and errors accumulation.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, a novel autonomous navigation model was developed, based on the rigid geometric and photogrammetric theory, including stereo perception, relative positioning and absolute adjustment. The first step was planned to detect accurate three-dimensional (3D) surroundings around the rover by matching stereo-paired images; the second was used to decide the local location and orientation changes of the rover by matching adjacent images; and the third was adopted to find the rover’s location in the whole scene by matching ground image with satellite image. Among them, the SURF algorithm that had been commonly believed as the best algorithm for matching images was adopted to find matched images.
Findings
Experiments indicated that the accurate 3D scene, relative positioning and absolute adjustment were easily generated and illustrated with the matching results. More importantly, the proposed algorithm is able to match images with great differences in illumination, scale and observation angle. All experiments and findings in this study proved that the proposed method could be an alternative navigation model for the planed Lunar rover.
Originality/value
With the matching results, an accurate 3D scene, relative positioning and absolute adjustment of rover can be easily generated. The whole test proves that the proposed method could be a feasible navigation model for the planed Lunar rover.
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Anyone who has recently watched television or movies can tell you that transgender, gender nonbinary or gender expansive people are becoming more visible in these media. This…
Abstract
Anyone who has recently watched television or movies can tell you that transgender, gender nonbinary or gender expansive people are becoming more visible in these media. This trend reflects the reality that younger generations are increasingly identifying with more fluid and nonbinary gender and sexual identities and are progressively expressing those identities in a more flexible and changing manner (Herman et al., 2022; Wilson & Meyer, 2021). Unsurprisingly then, those individuals are also more visible at work, including in workplaces with employer-mandated dress codes. Indeed, in 2020 the US Supreme Court decided a case involving a transgender woman, Aimee Stephens, who was fired because her employer, a funeral home, required her to conform to its gender-binary dress policy and wear clothing mandatory for people assigned male at birth, rather than appropriate for her female gender identity (Bostock v. Clayton County, 2020).
However, as the description of Aimee Stephens's own experience illustrates, often these employer appearance codes are based on a binary and fixed conception of gender and gender identity and expression at odds with the increasing number of workers who do not identify within those rigid parameters. Moreover, even when an employee, like Aimee Stephens herself, could have fit within her employer's dress code, the improper application of that policy to her, or employer concerns about customer or co-worker discomfort with an employee's appearance under the policy may mean that a worker's identity and expression may still conflict with a workplace appearance code. For gender nonbinary or nonconforming individuals, these complications are magnified.
This chapter explores the practical problems and barriers that employer dress codes have on employees whose gender identity and/or presentation move beyond the traditional male/female binary. Using insights from queer theory, gender expansive employees serve to interrogate fundamental assumptions behind workplace dress policies and the formal and informal ways in which these policies are policed. The chapter will explore that discordance, examine possible employer resolutions, and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of those responses.
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Keri K. Stephens, Anastazja G. Harris and Yaguang Zhu
Multicommunicating, the practice of using technology to carry on multiple near-simultaneous conversations, has been studied for almost two decades. This practice has new meaning…
Abstract
Multicommunicating, the practice of using technology to carry on multiple near-simultaneous conversations, has been studied for almost two decades. This practice has new meaning today as more people carry a mobile device with them, remote working is prominent, and teams are looking for ways to be more productive. This chapter establishes why multicommunicating is an important communication concept that can help scholars interested in teams. After distinguishing multicommunicating from related concepts, such as multitasking, this chapter reviews key findings from literature and highlights the conundrum around whether this is a productive, acceptable practice or one that is rude and increases inefficiency. In conclusion, the proposed research agenda invites studies of multicommunicating in contexts where actual responses to the practice can be observed. Additionally, there are growing opportunities to include mobile communication and human–technology interactions in the multicommunicating mix.
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Daniel Harris and Stephen Hellman
‘Q. Why the Caymans? You could have gone anywhere. You had a lot of money. You could have gone to Paris, the Bahamas?
Valeda Frances Dent, Wendy Hall, Stephen Harris, Jessie Hey and Kirk Martinez
Hybrid libraries provide multiple ways to access information in various formats, normally within a common information framework. The eLib project MALIBU (MAnaging the Hybrid…
Abstract
Hybrid libraries provide multiple ways to access information in various formats, normally within a common information framework. The eLib project MALIBU (MAnaging the Hybrid LIbrary for the Benefit of Users) focuses on the development of models, both prototypic and theoretic, for management and organisation of the hybrid library. This article describes the agent technology used for the MALIBU prototype search engine that allows for the search and retrieval of information from disparate resources.
Shanchun Wei, Hongbo Ma, Tao Lin and Shanben Chen
Recognition and guidance of initial welding position (IWP) is one of the most important steps of automatic welding process, also a key technology of autonomous welding process…
Abstract
Purpose
Recognition and guidance of initial welding position (IWP) is one of the most important steps of automatic welding process, also a key technology of autonomous welding process. The purpose of this paper is to advance an improved Harris Algorithm and grey scale scanning method (GSCM) to raise the precision of image processing.
Design/methodology/approach
Through the configuration of “single camera and double positions,” a new set of image processing algorithms is adopted to extract feature points by using the pattern of rough location and subtle extraction, so as to restructure three‐dimensional information to guide robot move to IWP in the practical welding environment.
Findings
Experiments showed that mean square errors (MSEs) in X, Y, Z‐directions for both flat butt joint and flat flange are 0.4491, 0.8178, 1.4797, and 0.5398, 0.4861, 1.1071 mm, respectively.
Research limitations/implications
It has a limitation in providing guidance for only one step, and would be more accurate if fractional steps are adopted.
Practical implications
Guidance experiments of IWPs on oxidant tank's simulating parts are carried out, whose success rate is up to 95 percent and MSEs are 0.7407, 0.7971, and 1.3429 mm. It meets the demands of continuous and automatic welding process.
Originality/value
Improved Harris Algorithm and GSCM are advanced to raise the precision of image processing which influenced guidance precision most.
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This study aims to examine whether officers' perceptions of the probability of suffering informal sanctions mediate the relationship between formal sanction threats and attitudes…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine whether officers' perceptions of the probability of suffering informal sanctions mediate the relationship between formal sanction threats and attitudes toward misconduct. Most importantly, the study examines whether the potential mediating effect of informal sanction threats varies by the type of rank.
Design/methodology/approach
The current study utilizes data collected from a mail survey of 480 police officers over a period of six weeks from 20 police stations across two cities in South Korea.
Findings
Officers' fear of legal sanctions on the attitudes toward misconduct was entirely mediated by the fear of extralegal forms of punishment. However, this mediation effect was held only for the officers in supervisory positions.
Originality/value
Probing a moderated mediation between the type of rank and sanction threats on police integrity advances the literature by moving beyond simply exploring the additive effects of sanction threats and adds clarity to existing concerns about exactly how rank-related cultural differences matter.
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Joan Rapaport, Martin Stevens, Jill Manthorpe, Shereen Hussein, Jess Harris and Stephen Martineau
This article describes research investigating the steps involved in recommending to the Secretary of State for Health whether a care worker should be included on the Protection of…
Abstract
This article describes research investigating the steps involved in recommending to the Secretary of State for Health whether a care worker should be included on the Protection of Vulnerable Adults (POVA) list, which records individuals barred from working and volunteering with vulnerable adults in England and Wales.The aims of the study were to investigate patterns of referrals to the list; factors associated with the collection of evidence to present to the Minister and to detail the operation of the list.The article focuses on the preliminary part of the research that covered discussion groups with purposive sample of older people, managers and staff during which a vignette approach was used to explore their perspectives.
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This chapter explores how, by drawing inspiration from Islamic sources for a song about Alexander the Great, death metal band Nile have created space for a more complicated view…
Abstract
This chapter explores how, by drawing inspiration from Islamic sources for a song about Alexander the Great, death metal band Nile have created space for a more complicated view of the Middle Ages than is traditionally found in either heavy metal or Western medieval studies. Even though the historical Alexander the Great was not a medieval figure, legends about him were especially popular in the Middle Ages, and his figure in Muslim traditions was influenced by his reception in the Middle Ages. Alexander the Great is a transcultural figure. He bridges East and West, both in the trajectory of his life, and in the diffusion of his legends, which survive in multilingual and multicultural medieval versions. His story also transcends boundaries of strict periodisation: the medieval Alexander materials are as influential to current ideas about him as are materials from his own era. In this context, Nile’s 2009 album Those Whom the Gods Detest offers an interesting case study for thinking about metal medievalism. This study opens new ways of thinking about the cultural scope of heavy metal and how metal might contribute to a broadening of studies in medievalism.