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Muinji’J Asks Why (2022) By Shanika Maceachern And Breighlynn Maceachern, Maughn Rollins Gregory

Picture Books

In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries American and Canadian government agencies and Christian churches established Indian residential schools where hundreds of thousands of children were “reeducated” in English and Christianity. They were not allowed to use their native languages or given names, to practice their religions, or to communicate with their siblings or parents. They were made to work in crop fields, kitchens, laundries, and industrial workshops. Many were physically and sexually abused. Many never saw their families again. The nine picture books reviewed here are accounts of survivors of residential schools from eight different Indigenous nations. In addition to …

The Hows And Whys Of Gendered Grouping Practices In Primary Physical Education In England, Shaun D. Wilkinson, Annette Stride, Dawn Penney

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Background: Single- and mixed-sex grouping have long been a focus of attention in physical education (PE) and are matters often at the fore of discussions about curriculum planning, teaching, and learning. Nonetheless, there remains little consensus or guidance on which approach (or combination of approaches) should be preferred in PE in primary and secondary schools in England. Further, while single- and mixed-sex grouping have been extensively researched in PE in secondary schools, hitherto there remains an absence of research examining these practices in PE in primary schools. This research sought to address gaps in the literature to build a stronger …

Non-Destructive Characterization Of Variously Colored Gypsum And Aragonite/Calcite Speleothems From The Cigalère Cave (Ariège, France), Martin Vlieghe, Johan Wouters, Gérald Fanuel, Jean-François Drion Du Chapois, Anne Gallez, Stéphane Pire-Stevenne, Gaëtan Rochez, Johan Yans

International Journal of Speleology

The Cigalère Cave is a 21 km-long karstic cave located in the Ariège Department, in the French Pyrenees, and underlies directly the Bentaillou Pb-Zn-Fe sulfide ores. The cave hosts abundant gypsum mineralizations, some of them exhibiting various colorations including blue, yellow, purple, orange and black. Due to strict preservation policies, these colored mineralizations have not been studied much. Here we propose a non-destructive characterization of five distinct gypsum or carbonate speleothem structures from the Cigalère, exhibiting different colorations. To comply with the preservation policies, no sample was taken from the cave, and all speleothems were analyzed in situ using portable …

Beyond Metrics: A Decade Of Building Critical Scholarship At The Interface Of Forest And Society, Muhammad Alif K. Sahide, Nurhady Sirimorok, Micah R. Fisher

Forest and Society

This editorial reflects on the first decade of Forest and Society by examining how scholarly journals can be understood beyond bibliometric indicators and ranking systems. While metrics remain influential in contemporary academic publishing, they offer only a partial account of how knowledge is produced, evaluated, and sustained. Drawing on a decade of editorial practice, the editorial foregrounds the intellectual, pedagogical, and institutional dimensions through which critical scholarship at the interface of forests and society has been cultivated. Beyond its role as a publication outlet, Forest and Society has evolved as part of a broader scholarly community, most notably through the …

Elephant Economics And Agrarian Transitions: Conditions For Benefiting From Elephant Tourism Market In An Upland Karen (Paganyaw) Village, Xiaoyun Neo, Aswin Baharuddin, Nur Fadilah Sunardi

Forest and Society

In rural, upland northern Thailand, Indigenous Karen (Paganyaw) communities have long practiced diversified subsistence cultivation and forest-based livelihoods. Yet state conservation policies and tourism-led development are reshaping these agrarian systems and livelihoods. This paper explores how one Karen (Paganyaw) community in Chiang Mai province reconfigures its livelihood strategies amid the decline of swidden cultivation and the rise of elephant tourism as a new rural economy. Beyond subsistence cultivation, villagers are seeking to diversify their households and personal income by participating in this new economic sector. We argue that the transition out of small-scale agriculture into tourism is not a neutral …

The Unequal Partnership Behind Biodiversity Conservation Efforts In The Eastern Democratic Republic Of Congo, Alexandra Rasoamanana, Eliezer Majambu, Dominique Bikaba, Symphorien Ongolo, Emilie Dupuits

Forest and Society

The growing demand for inclusivity in conservation has led international conservation organisations (ICOs) to collaborate more with local conservation organisations (LCOs). This paper assesses such partnerships through a community-led initiative establishing a wildlife corridor between Maiko and Kahuzi-Biega National Parks. In this region, resource conflicts are often cited as a political justification for recurring conservation failures. However, this framing overlooks crucial questions about how fairness and sustainability in conservation are constructed in practice, particularly within contested forestlands where multiple groups claim legitimacy over ownership. We analyse the structural conditions that enable or constrain the formation of authentic partnerships. Such partnerships …

The Disenchanted Grove: Postcolonial Modernity And The Decline Of Ri’I Bamboo Governance In Flores, Indonesia, Handoyo Handoyo, Puji Hastuti, Lukas Rumboko Wibowo, Budiyanto Dwi Prasetyo, Surati Surati, Kresno Agus Hendarto, Lila Juniyanti, Dewi Ratna Kurnia Sari, Desmiwati Desmiwati, Sanusi Sanusi, Ane Dwi Septina, Ramawati Ramawati

Forest and Society

This article explores the erosion of ri’i, a traditional ecological governance system practiced by the Ngadha people in Flores, Indonesia, in the face of modernization and postcolonial development. Based on long-term ethnographic fieldwork and interviews with cultural elders, ritual practitioners, and local authorities, the study documents how ri’i—a ritual-based regulatory system for bamboo resource management—has been progressively dismantled through the combined pressures of technocratic governance, land commodification, and shifts toward individualism. Empirically, the main drivers identified are state land certification (including Sertifikat Hak Milik, SHM) and village modernization campaigns, which reconfigure communal tenure and everyday governance practices. Once embedded …

Promoting The Concept Healthy Ageing For Use In Gerontological Health And Social Care Policy And Practice, Claire Donnellan

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Aims: The concept of healthy or successful ageing dates back to the 1960s, where its goal is more realistic in today's ageing society as a result of effective interventions to control and reduce disability and health risks. The aim of this paper is to outline the importance of defining ageing, the semantics and indicators used, and to identify common challenges for health professionals' understanding and application of a healthy ageing approach in their everyday clinical practice. Design and Methods: This discursive paper demonstrates how realistic ageing indicators are for highlighting the variation and impact of challenges associated with ageing. It …

Centring The Audience: Attitudes And Behaviours In Australian Arts Organisations, Katya Johanson, Abbie Trott, Mark Taylor, Anne Kershaw, Hilary Glow, Tracy Margieson

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Many arts organisations seek to increase the diversity of their audiences. Recent literature suggests that this requires organisations to interrogate and change their ways of operating. This is a fundamental shift for a sector that has long considered the goal of diversifying audiences as a problem external to the organisation. Responding to this discrepancy, this article compares attitudes and behaviours among workers in arts organisations, to identify whether staff see the need to make change and practise the behaviours required. It identifies and uses three organisational capabilities–‘dynamic capabilities’, ‘social networks’ and ‘business improvement processes’–to frame an analysis of a national …

Chronicles Of Film Tourism: An Integrative Review And Future Research Directions, Sangkyun Kim, Anton Klarin, Stijn Reijnders, Qijie Xiao, Nicky Van Es

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This study triangulates historiographical and scientometric reviews to provide a systems perspective on film tourism. The three phases of historiographical analysis (exploration, growth, and maturity) correspond to the three clusters of scientometric analysis: (i) initial research exploring film tourism development and management, (ii) growing the field through studies on film tourists’ perceptions and practices, and (iii) reaching maturity through extending research into different cultural contexts and meaning-making processes. Based on the analysis, we offer a set of directions for future research, including the need to integrate sustainability research and film tourism studies in developing country contexts, as well as intertextuality …

A Figurational Analysis Of Health And/Or Physical Education Teacher Educators’ Conceptualisations Of Policy, And Their Sociogenesis, Laura Alfrey, Dylan Scanlon, David Aldous, Jenna Lorusso, Kellie Baker, Christopher Clark, Mo Jafar

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Policy engagement is key to promoting quality physical education yet it has been identified as a ‘grand challenge’ for Health and/or Physical Education (H/PE) internationally. All H/PE professionals, including teacher educators, have a collective responsibility to engage with policy but existing research tells us little about how H/PE teacher educators (H/PETEs) understand and engage with policy. It is important to examine H/PETEs conceptualisations of policy for a few reasons, not least because teacher educators play a crucial role in supporting future generations of teachers who themselves will need to engage with policy as a core feature of their professional lives. …

Building Capacity, Driving Impact: A Landscape Analysis Of Community Engagement And Outreach Cores' Activities, Emily Frankel, Stephanie Broyles, Stephenie Kennedy-Rea, Casey Solsrud, Elizabeth K. Woods, Deborah Goebert, Zsolt Nagykaldi, Holly Huye, Lee M. Pachter

Faculty Publications

Community Engagement and Outreach (CEO) Cores are a key component of the IDeA Clinical and Translational Research (IDeA-CTR) Program, serving to develop and implement capacity-building initiatives that empower communities to engage and collaborate with investigators in community-engaged research. To strengthen collaboration and shared learning across sites, a CEO Special Interest Group was established. In 2022, the group conducted a landscape analysis to systematically characterize and categorize CEO Core activities across the IDeA-CTR network, with a focus on capacity-building efforts related to knowledge transfer, co-learning, and infrastructure development. The analysis revealed several common approaches to community engagement and capacity building across …

Widening Participation In Dentistry: A Quantitative Study Of Changing Demographics At A South West Uk Dental School (2014-2021)., Sally Hanks, Ian Mills, Marie Bryce, Daniel Zahra, Rebecca Glanville

Peninsula Dental School

Introduction: Access to National Health Service (NHS) dental care in the UK, particularly in rural and coastal regions such as the South West, remains a significant concern. Increasing socio-economic diversity in the dental workforce has previously been reported to improve access to care in underserved areas. Widening Participation (WP) initiatives aim to address this by encouraging applications from underrepresented groups. Methods: This study analysed admissions data from the University of Plymouth's Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) programme for cohorts between 2014 and 2021. Metrics included entry qualifications, age, gender, ethnicity, disability and socio-economic markers. Statistical analyses included chi-squared tests and …

The All Of Us Evenings With Genetics Research Program, Stacy M Lloyd, Jasmine Baker, Carolina Jorgez, Julie Coleman, Laterrica Williams, April Adams, Ashley Butler, Elizabeth Atkinson, Shamika Ketkar, Steven Scherer, Kim Worley, Susan Fernbach, Keasia Daniels, Latanya Hammonds-Odie, Laura Rosales, Brendan Lee, Debra Murray

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The All of Us Evenings with Genetics (All of Us EwG) Research Program, funded in part by the National Institute of Health’s All of Us Research Program, engages researchers to utilize the All of Us Researcher Workbench to advance precision medicine. The All of Us EwG program has two core aims: (1) address barriers to research productivity for minorities, disadvantaged, and persons with disabilities aspiring to enter STEM fields; and (2) promote the use of the All of Us Researcher Workbench to develop research focused on health equity. To achieve these goals, the program implements three key activities: (1) …

Tools Used To Measure Fear Avoidance Behaviour In The Management Of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (Concussion), Liam Sherwood

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Concussion can present challenges with respect to diagnosis and management. Fear avoidance behaviour and beliefs may be perpetuating factors in the clinical course of concussion. Understanding which patients may adopt such behaviours and beliefs can offer important information to allow tailoring of clinical management and implementing strategies to minimise the risk of progression to persisting post-concussion symptoms.

In this thesis, I:

-       systematically reviewed the current measurement tools used to assess fear avoidance behaviours and beliefs associated with concussion;

-       explored the experience of clinicians, researchers and people with lived experience of concussion in relation to fear avoidance behaviours;

- …

The Development Of A Midwifery Specific Tool To Identify The Barriers And Enablers To Change Within The Midwifery Setting, Sara Davis

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Despite being well-positioned to identify service gaps and propose improvements, many midwives lack the knowledge, skills, confidence, or tools to effect practice change. Implementation science (IS) offers a structured approach to moving evidence-based innovations into practice; however, existing IS theories, models, and frameworks do not reflect the unique context of midwifery practice. The first step in the intentional implementation of an evidence-based practice innovation is to conduct a context assessment to identify factors that may facilitate or impede its uptake. There are numerous evidence-based checklists for this, but none capture all the influences on midwifery practice environments.

In this study, …

The Development And Pilot Evaluation Of An Out-Of-Hospital Immersive Birthing Simulation Training Application For Paramedics And Ambulance Officers Using Virtual-Reality Technology, Michella Hill

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Out-of-hospital births (OOHBs) are births which occur outside a hospital setting. This includes planned home births attended by midwives, or unplanned OOHBs where the intention was to birth in a hospital or maternity centre, however, occurs in an unintended location. Prehospital clinicians, inclusive of registered paramedics and volunteer ambulance officers (VAOs) infrequently attend OOHBs, as most births occur in maternity wards as anticipated. OOHBs comprises < 1% of emergency ambulance requests and requires specialised skills for prehospital clinicians to competently manage birthing and potential complications. As exposure to birthing is so rare, these specialised skills and knowledge are underutilised and subject to rapid decay. Compounding the problem, obstetrics is infrequently taught across undergraduate education, in-service training, or within individual clinician’s continuing professional development. Placements shadowing midwives are scarce due to nursing and medical students receiving priority. Previous research regarding OOHBs is limited, nonetheless suggests prehospital clinicians are underprepared to manage an OOHB, which has serious patient safety implications. The present research sought to explore prehospital clinicians’ preparedness and confidence in managing OOHBs. It also investigates whether a digital training solution such as virtual reality (VR) simulation may reduce the theory-practice gap and assist in competency retention.

Publication one provides a comprehensive methodology outline which is applied to Study One; a scoping review of prehospital clinician and birth parent experiences with OOHBs. Risk factors, complications and interventions provided by prehospital clinicians, as …

Emotional Coding In Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’S Music: The Influence Of Text-Driven Musical Patterns, Antonio Toppi

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis investigates the phenomenon of emotional coding in the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791), with particular attention to the ways in which text-driven musical patterns influence both vocal and instrumental works. The study draws on 18th-century theories of key characteristics, musical-rhetorical figures, and topoi, compositional devices that carried emotional implications for contemporary listeners. These codes are first examined in two of Mozart’s operas, Le Nozze di Figaro (KV492) and Don Giovanni (KV527), where the setting of text to music provides a framework for associating compositional choices with emotion. Findings from the analyses are then applied to three contemporaneous …

Multi-Period Coordinated Planning Of Xfcs In Coupled Tn-Pdn Networks: Integrating Demand Charge Reduction And Pre-Existing Infrastructure, Waqas Ur Rehman, Siyuan Wang, Liheng Lv, Jonathan W. Kimball, Rui Bo

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The widespread adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) and transportation electrification is encumbered by two chief barriers: i) the limited driving range of EVs in the market today and ii) inadequate charging infrastructure support. This paper aims to address the latter bottleneck and proposes a strategic multi-period coordinated planning model to optimally site and size battery energy storage system (BESS) assisted extreme fast charging stations in a highway transportation network and solar systems in a power distribution network. The proposed approach accounts for pre-existing charging stations, the increasing EV penetration levels, decreasing technology costs, and technological advancements in the future and …

Large Language Models For Neurology: A Mini Review, Donald C. Wunsch, Daniel B. Hier

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Large language models have the potential to transform neurology by augmenting diagnostic reasoning, streamlining documentation, and improving workflow efficiency. This Mini Review surveys emerging applications of large language models in Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, and epilepsy, with emphasis on ambient documentation, multimodal data integration, and clinical decision support. Key barriers to adoption include bias, privacy, reliability, and regulatory alignment. Looking ahead, neurology-focused language models may develop greater fluency in biomedical ontologies and FHIR standards, improving data interoperability and supporting more seamless collaboration between clinicians and AI systems. Two future developments have the potential to be particularly impactful: (1) …

Mitigating Hysteresis In Metal-Coated Fibers Via Optimized Thermal Treatment For Advanced Distributed High-Temperature Sensing Applications, Koustav Dey, Rony Kumer Saha, Bohong Zhang, S. Narasimman, Farhan Mumtaz, Jeffrey D. Smith, Rex E. Gerald, Ronald J. O'Malley, Jie Huang

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Metal-coated optical fibers are widely employed in sensing applications owing to their superior mechanical strength and corrosion resistance. However, their calibration at elevated temperatures is hindered by hysteresis, manifested as discrepancies between heating and cooling cycles, primarily caused by residual strain from mismatched thermal expansion coefficients (TECs) between the metal coating and silica cladding. This research introduces an optimal heat treatment procedure aimed at minimizing the impact of the mismatch in TECs between the cladding and the coating materials that causes the residual strain in gold (Au) and copper (Cu) coated fibers for achieving reliable distributed high temperature sensing up …

Evaluation Of Multiple Generative Large Language Models On Neurology Board-Style Questions, Mohammad Almomani, Vijaya Valaparla, James Weatherhead, Xiang Fang, Alok Dabi, Chih Ying Li, Peter Mccaffrey, Dan Hier, Jorge Mario Rodríguez-Fernández

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Objective: To compare the performance of eight large language models (LLMs) with neurology residents on board-style multiple-choice questions across seven subspecialties and two cognitive levels. Methods: In a cross-sectional benchmarking study, we evaluated Bard, Claude, Gemini v1, Gemini 2.5, ChatGPT-3.5, ChatGPT-4, ChatGPT-4o, and ChatGPT-5 using 107 text-only items spanning movement disorders, vascular neurology, neuroanatomy, neuroimmunology, epilepsy, neuromuscular disease, and neuro-infectious disease. Items were labeled as lower- or higher-order per Bloom's taxonomy by two neurologists. Models answered each item in a fresh session and reported confidence and Bloom classification. Residents completed the same set under exam-like conditions. Outcomes included overall and …

Multi-Parameter Optimization And Adaptive Temperature Compensation For Fbg Strain Sensors In Wide-Temperature-Range Aerospace Applications, Ruling Zhou, Jiacheng Yu, Yutang Dai, Jianguan Tang, Minghong Yang, Farhan Mumtaz

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Accurate strain measurement in cryogenic fuel pipelines is crucial for ensuring the structural integrity and reliability of rocket engine systems operating under extreme thermal conditions. Fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors show significant potential for such applications; however, their inherent temperature-strain cross-sensitivity limits performance over wide temperature ranges. This research presents an enhanced compensation strategy combining multi-parameter optimization with temperature-zone-specific adaptation to improve the accuracy and stability of FBG-based strain sensing in harsh aerospace environments. Four special steel substrate materials including S03, S06, S07, and 1Cr18Ni9Ti, were evaluated using strain transfer theory and thermo-mechanical coupling simulations. Genetic algorithms optimized key design …

Safe Optimal Control Framework For Cooperative Manipulation Of Objects In Human–Robot Teams, Irfan Ganie, Sarangapani Jagannathan

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This article introduces a distributed deep neural network (NN)-based adaptive control framework for cooperative object manipulation in human–robot teams with unknown agent dynamics by using three distinct multilayer NN observers (MNNOs). The first observer, termed the reference point estimator, enables each robotic agent to estimate the object's reference center using consensus-based learning, even without direct access to global reference trajectories. The second observer, referred to as the human force-to-trajectory estimator, uses human-applied forces to infer the intended position, velocity, and acceleration of the object, enabling real-time estimation of human intent. Together, these two observers allow distributed estimation of human-intended motion. …

High-Resolution, Fast-Response Optical Fiber Temperature Sensor With A Large Measurement Range Based On Fiber-Tip Alumina Fabry-Pérot Interferometer, Ruimin Jie, Chen Zhu, Robert Abbott, Michael Davis, Xiong Zhang, Jie Huang

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

We present an alumina-tip optical fiber Fabry-Pérot interferometric temperature sensor exhibiting high-temperature performance, rapid response, and high resolution. Fabricated by fusion splicing an alumina micro disk directly to a single-mode fiber, the sensor achieves robust, stable operation without complex fabrication processes or adhesives. Experimental evaluation confirms a measurement range extending to 1000°C, with sensitivity of 28.66 pm/°C, a resolution of 0.042°C, and a rapid response time of approximately 13 ms. Compared to state-of-the-art optical fiber FPI sensors, our alumina-tip sensor offers superior overall performance, effectively addressing critical demands for high-resolution, fast-response temperature measurement in extreme environments including aerospace, structural monitoring, …

Waveguide-Assisted Single-Mode Fiber Bragg Gratings In A Highly Multimode Coreless Fiber Via Femtosecond Laser Inscription For Extreme Temperature Quasi-Distributed Thermal Sensing, Farhan Mumtaz, Koustav Dey, Bohong Zhang, Jeffrey D. Smith, Ronald J. O'Malley, Jie Huang

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This research reports a potential quasi-distributed thermal mapping optical sensing system for extreme temperatures, leveraging femtosecond (fs) laser inscribed single-mode fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) and a waveguide within coreless, highly multimode optical fiber, resulting in a single-mode structure. Unlike doped single-mode fibers, coreless fibers composed of silica rods prevent issues associated with dopant migration and ensure data accuracy. The strategic placement of point-by-point FBGs in a cascaded formation on the fs-laser inscribed waveguide facilitates localized multipoint sensing. The long-term stability of the proposed waveguide-assisted FBG system was assessed over 24 hours at elevated temperatures (1000°C), showing no hysteresis during heating …

Embeddable Optical Fiber Sensor For Simultaneous Strain And Temperature Monitoring, Amardeep Kaur, Sudharshan Anandan, Steve Eugene Watkins, Yinan Zhang, Kumbla Chandrashekhara, Hai Xiao

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

We present an embeddable hybrid optical fiber sensor based on a cascaded extrinsic Fabry–Pérot interferometer (EFPI) and intrinsic Fabry–Pérot interferometer (IFPI) for simultaneous strain and temperature monitoring in high-performance composite materials. The sensor is fabricated using femtosecond laser micromachining and is embedded within bismaleimide composite laminates manufactured via an out-of-autoclave process. Experimental results demonstrate linear and decoupled responses to strain and temperature, with the EFPI showing minimal temperature sensitivity (1.7 pm/°C) and the IFPI exhibiting high temperature sensitivity (16.1 pm/°C). Strain sensitivities for both components were consistent at 0.6pm/με in embedded conditions. The sensor maintained structural integrity and stable spectral …

Performance Analysis And Optimization Of Fructose Memristor-Based Neuromorphic Systems, Harshvardhan Uppaluru, Shakil Mahmud Jiban, Shah Zayed Riam, Feng Zhao, Jinhui Wang

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Natural organic memristors have demonstrated promising synaptic behavior, positioning them as strong candidates for synaptic devices in neuromorphic systems. This paper presents the fabrication and evaluation of a neuromorphic system based on natural organic 16-level and 32-level fructose memristors. First, the manufacturing process of fructose memristors is described in detail. Second, the nonlinear property associated with fructose memristors is investigated, and an optimization method is applied to address the nonlinear effects. The performance of the fructose memristor-based neuromorphic system on MNIST with a multi-layer perceptron and on CIFAR-10 with VGG-8 is evaluated and reported under various conditions -with/without nonlinearity optimization …

Integrating Optical And Radiofrequency Interferometry For Enhanced Phase Sensing, Ruimin Jie, Zhaopeng Zhang, Chen Zhu, Jie Huang

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Interferometry is a crucial investigative technique used across diverse fields to achieve high-precision measurements. It works by analyzing the phase difference between two interfering waves, which results from variations in optical path lengths within an interferometer. We introduce a novel method for directly measuring changes in the phase difference within an optical interferometer, importantly, with the added advantage of a controllable enhancement factor. This approach is achieved through a two-step process: first, the optical phase difference is encoded into a sub-GHz radiofrequency (RF) signal using microwave-photonic manipulation; then, RF interferometry-assisted phase amplification is implemented at the destructive interference point. In …

Online Lifelong Optimal Adaptive Control Of Partially Uncertain Strict Feedback Discrete-Time Systems With Application To Quadrotor Uavs, Maxwell Geiger, Sarangapani Jagannathan

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This article considers the infinite time horizon optimal adaptive tracking control of partially uncertain strict feedback discrete-time (DT) systems with application to quadrotor uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs). First, the strict feedback DT system is transformed into an equivalent affine nonlinear DT system in terms of the tracking error dynamics. The optimal adaptive tracking control problem is solved using an augmented system approach, where a horizon of future bounded reference trajectory points is used in the augmented state, when compared to using a single point. It is assumed that the internal dynamics of the strict feedback system are unknown, but the …