Realisation and testing of novel fully articulated bird-inspired flapping wings for efficient and agile UAVs

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-35
Author(s):  
D. Kumar ◽  
T. Goyal ◽  
S. Kamle ◽  
P.M. Mohite ◽  
E.M. Lau

Abstract Large birds have evolved an effective wing anatomy and mechanics, enabling airborne mastery of manoeuvres and endurance. For these very reasons, they are difficult to replicate and study. The aim of the present work is to achieve active wing articulations to mimic natural bird flapping towards efficient and agile Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). The proposed design, bio-mimicking the black-headed gull, Larus ridibundus, has three active and independent servo-controlled wing joints at the shoulder, elbow and wrist to achieve complex controls. The construction of the wing is realised through a polymeric skin and carbon fibre–epoxy composite spars and ribs. The wing movements (flapping, span reduction and twisting) envelopes of the full-scale robotic gull (Robogull) are examined using the Digital Image Correlation (DIC) technique and laser displacement sensing. Its aerodynamic performance was evaluated in a wind tunnel at various flapping parameters, wind speeds and angles of attack. It is observed that a flapping amplitude of 45 $^\circ$ is more favourable than 90 $^\circ$ for generating higher lift and thrust, while also depending on the presence of span reduction, twist and wind speed. The model performs better at a flying velocity of 4m/s as compared with 8m/s. Both lift and thrust are high at a higher flapping frequency of 2.5Hz. Combined variation of the flapping frequency and stroke ratio should be considered for better aerodynamic performance. The combination of a lower stroke ratio of 0.5 with a flapping frequency of 2.5Hz generates higher lift and thrust than other combinations. Span reduction and wing twist notably and independently enhance lift and thrust, respectively. An increase in the angle-of-attack increases lift but decreases thrust. The model can also generate a significant rolling moment when set at a bank angle of 20 $^\circ$ and operated with independently controlled flapping amplitudes for the wings (45 $^\circ$ for the left wing and 90 $^\circ$ for the right wing). Based on the optimal values for the flapping amplitude (45 $^\circ$ ), flapping frequency (2.5Hz) and flying velocity (4m/s), the Strouhal number (St) of the Robogull model is 0.24, lying in the optimal range ( $0.2 < \mathrm{St} < 0.4$ ) for natural flyers and swimmers.

Genealogy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 60
Author(s):  
Anna Miglietta ◽  
Barbara Loera

We analyzed the relationship between modern forms of populism and citizen support for exclusive welfare policies and proposals, and we focused on support for left-wing- and right-wing-oriented welfare policies enacted or proposed during the Lega Nord (LN)–Five Star Movement (FSM) government in Italy (2018–2019). In light of the theoretical perspective of political ideology as motivated by social cognition, we examined citizens’ support for the two policies considering adherence to populist attitudes, agreement on the criteria useful to define ingroup membership, and personal values. We also took into account the role of cognitive sophistication in populism avoidance. A total of 785 Italian adults (F = 56.6; mean age = 35.8) completed an online survey in the summer of 2019 based on the following: support for populist policies and proposals, political ideologies and positioning, personal values, and ingroup boundaries. We used correlation and regression analyses. The results highlight the relationships between populism and political conservatism. Populism was related to the vertical and horizontal borders defining the “people”; cognitive sophistication was not a relevant driver. We identified some facilitating factors that could promote adherence to and support for public policies inspired by the values of the right or of the left, without a true ideological connotation.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zicong Guo ◽  
Kunhua Wen ◽  
Yuwen Qin ◽  
Yihong Fang ◽  
Zhengfeng Li ◽  
...  

AbstractIn this paper, a sub-wavelength metal-insulator-metal (MIM) waveguide structure is proposed by using a cross-shape rectangular cavity, of which wings are coupled with two rectangular cavities. Firstly, a cross-shape rectangular cavity is placed between the input and output MIM waveguides. According to the mutual interference between bright and dark modes, three Fano resonant peaks are generated. Secondly, by adding a rectangular cavity on the left wing of the cross shaped one, five asymmetric Fano resonance peaks are obtained. Thirdly, six asymmetric Fano resonance peaks are achieved after adding another cavity on the right wing. Finally, the finite-difference-time-domain (FDTD) method and multimode interference coupled-mode theory (MICMT) are used to simulate and analyze the coupled plasmonic resonant system, respectively. The highest sensitivity of 1 000nm/RIU is achieved.


1993 ◽  
Vol 75 (3) ◽  
pp. 1263-1271 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Antonio ◽  
W. J. Gonyea

Intermittent stretch of the anterior latissimus dorsi (ALD) muscle produces fiber hypertrophy without fiber hyperplasia (J. Appl. Physiol. 74: 1893–1898, 1993). This study was undertaken to determine if a progressive increase in load and duration of stretch would induce extremely large muscle fiber areas or if the fibers would reach a critical size before the onset of fiber hyperplasia. Weights ranging from 10 to 35% of the bird's mass were attached to the right wing of 26 adult quail while the left wing served as the intra-animal control. The stretch protocol was as follows: day 1 (10% wt), days 2 and 3 (rest), day 4 (15% wt), days 5–7 (rest), day 8 (20% wt), days 9 and 10 (rest), days 11–14 (25% wt), days 15 and 16 (rest), and days 17–38 (35% wt). Birds were killed after 12, 16, 20, 24, and 28 days of stretch not including rest days. Muscle mass increased 174% (12 days), 196% (16 days), 225% (20 days), 264% (24 days), and 318% (28 days). Muscle length increased 60% (12 days), 34% (16 days), 59% (20 days), 50% (24 days), and 51% (28 days). Mean fiber area increased 111% (12 days), 142% (16 days), 75% (20 days), 90% (24 days), and 39% (28 days). Fiber number, which was measured histologically, increased significantly by 82% only in the 28 days of stretch group. The percentage of slow tonic fibers did not change for any of the time points examined.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kjetil Klette Bøhler

This article investigates the role of music in presidential election campaigns and political movements inspired by theoretical arguments in Henri Lefebvre’s Rhythmanalysis, John Dewey ́s pragmatist rethinking of aesthetics and existing scholarship on the politics of music. Specifically, it explores how musical rhythms and melodies enable new forms of political awareness, participation, and critique in an increasingly polarized Brazil through an ethnomusicological exploration of how left-wing and right-wing movements used music to disseminate politics during the 2018 election that culminated in the presidency of Jair Messias Bolsonaro. Three lessons can be learned. First, in Brazil, music breathes life, energy, and affective engagement into politics—sung arguments and joyful rhythms enrich public events and street demonstrations in complex and dynamic ways. Second, music is used by right-wing and left-wing movements in unique ways. For Bolsonaro supporters and right-wing movements, jingles, produced as part of larger election campaigns, were disseminated through massive sound cars in the heart of São Paulo while demonstrators sang the national anthem and waved Brazilian flags. In contrast, leftist musical politics appears to be more spontaneous and bohemian. Third, music has the ability to both humanize and popularize bolsonarismo movements that threaten human rights and the rights of ethnic minorities, among others, in contemporary Brazil. To contest bolsonarismo, Trumpism, and other forms of extreme right-wing populism, we cannot close our ears and listen only to grooves of resistance and songs of freedom performed by leftists. We must also listen to the music of the right.


2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 193
Author(s):  
Fita Fathurokhmah

This article wants to examine how the media ideology about the concept of radicalism in Islam in the mass media of Republika and Koran Tempo. The Republika newspaper supports and agrees to the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) both with an understanding of the prohibition of homosexuality and the appointment of news of FPI's violence against homosexuals. The Tempo newspaper is more about renewing ideas such as reporting on the views of the Liberal Islam Network (JIL) in respect of homosexuals. Homosexuality is the same sex lover or the choice of sexuality abnormalities is normal as a human being, it does not need to be criticized but must be respected as individual freedom. There is a fundamental ideological difference between Republika and Koran Tempo by renewing the concept of homosexuality with thinking radicalism on the basis of Islamic teachings. The homosexual issue, FPI applies the meaning of Islamic radicalism from the right-wing side which promotes violence as resistance, while JIL applies the meaning of radicalism from the left-wing side which prioritizes the radicalism of thought and law in the Koran.  AbstrakArtikel ini ingin mengkaji bagaimana ideologi media tentang konsep radikalisme dalam Islam di media massa Republika dan Koran Tempo. Surat kabar Republika mendukung dan setuju pada Front Pembela Islam (FPI) baik dengan pemahaman pelarangan homoseksual dan pengangkatan berita tindak kekerasan FPI melawan homoseksual. Koran Tempo lebih pada pembaharuan pemikiran seperti pemberitaan pandangan Jaringan Islam Liberal (JIL) terkait menghormatinya kaum homoseksual. Homoseksual adalah penyuka sesama jenis atau pilihan kelainan seksualitas itu normal sebagai manusia, tidak perlu dicela tapi harus dihargai sebagai kebebasan individu. Terdapat perbedaan ideologi yang mendasar antara Republika dan Koran Tempo dengan melakukan pembaharuan konsep homoseksual dengan radikalisme berpikir dengan pijakan ajaran Islam. Persoalan homoseksual, FPI menerapkan makna radikalisme Islam dari sisi sayap kanan yang mengedepankan kekerasan sebagai perlawanan, sedangkan JIL menerapkan makna radikalisme dari sisi sayap kiri yang mengutamakan keradikalan pemikiran dan hukum dalam al-Quran.


Author(s):  
Boris I. Kolonitskii

The article examines the cultural forms of legitimation / delegitimation of authority of the Provisional Government. Particular attention is paid to the personal authority of Alexander Kerensky, including rhetorical (persuasive) devices and visual images which underlay the tactics of praising or condemning him. As the main source, the article uses the newspapers of A.A. Suvorin, namely Malen'kaya gazeta [Little newspaper], Narodnaya gazeta [People’s newspaper], Rus' [Rus], Novaya Rus' [New Rus]. These newspapers are compared with resolutions, letters and diaries, and with publications in other periodicals. The study clarifies some aspects of political isolation of the Provisional Government in the fall of 1917. By this time, the propaganda attack on Kerensky was conducted not only by the Bolsheviks and other left-wing groups but also by the right-wing and conservative publications. The propaganda of the left- and right-wing opponents was significantly different but they had a point of contact: both of them created the image of the “traitor” who was unworthy to remain in power.


1995 ◽  
Vol 78 (1) ◽  
pp. 293-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. A. Carson ◽  
M. Yamaguchi ◽  
S. E. Alway

The purpose of this study was to determined whether fibers in the anterior latissimus dorsi (ALD) muscle from aged Japanese quail have decreased hypertrophic or proliferative responses to 30 days of stretch overload compared with fibers from adult birds. Two groups of quail were studied, 12-wk-old quail (adult; n = 16) and 90-wk-old quail (aged; n = 16). The left wing of each bird was overloaded with a weight corresponding to 10% of the bird's body weight, and the right wing served as the intra-animal control. Quails were killed after 30 days of stretch overload. Total fiber number was quantified by counting all the fibers in a transverse section from the midbelly of the ALD muscle. ALD muscles in aged quails retained the capacity to increase their muscle mass (145%), total fiber number (49%), and fiber cross-sectional area (54%) in response to stretch overload. The ALD muscle in aged quail had a significantly lower increase in muscle mass (33%) and mass corrected for nonmuscle tissue (36%) compared with the ALD from young adult birds. Age had no effect on fiber type distribution shifts with stretch. These results suggest that although muscles in old birds have a substantial ability to adapt to enlarge, stretch-induced hypertrophy is attenuated in muscles from old quail.


Food Fights ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 162-186
Author(s):  
Sarah Ludington

From its founding, the U.S. government has promoted agriculture, and since the Great Depression, has directly supported farm incomes and crop prices. Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal programs linked farm subsidies to food assistance for the poor, a politically successful combination then and now. Sarah Ludington describes how the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), through the Farm Bill, became responsible for school lunches, food stamps, and land conservation in addition to billions of dollars in subsidies for commodity crops like corn and cotton. Now a target for both the right wing and left wing of American politics, the Farm Bill continues to embody the tensions at the heart of American agriculture.


Author(s):  
Laurențiu Ștefan

In Romania, a highly segmented and extremely volatile party system has contributed to a predominance of coalition governments. Alternation in power by coalitions led by either left-wing or right-wing parties used to be a major feature of Romanian governments. Thus, until a short-lived grand coalition in 2009, ideologically homogeneous coalitions were the general practice. Since then, parties from the right and left of the political spectrum have learned to work together in government. Given the semi-presidential nature of the political regime and the exclusive power to nominate the prime minister, the Romanian president plays an important role in coalition formation. The president also plays a pivotal role by shadowing the prime minister and therefore influencing the governance of coalitions. She has the power to veto ministerial appointments and therefore she can also shape the cabinet line-up. Pre-election coalitions are a common feature, more than two-thirds of Romanian coalition governments have been predicated on such agreements. Coalition agreements dealt with both policy issues and coalition decision-making bodies and the governance mechanisms that have been in most cases enforced and complied with—until the break-up of the coalition and the downfall of the respective government. One very common decision-making body is the Coalition Committee, which has been backed on the operational level by an inner cabinet made up of the prime minister and the deputy prime ministers, which usually are the heads of the junior coalition parties.


Author(s):  
Michael Mackenzie

Neue Sachlichkeit, which can be translated as "New Objectivity," was the name given to a tendency in painting which, from about 1921 on, returned to something like traditional compositional and representational codes, eschewed vehemence of any kind, "Primitivism," and even painterliness, while emphasizing unbroken contour lines and unbroken local color. Painters depicted conventional subject matter such as still life, landscapes, and portraits with the pictorial means of sculptural volume, perspectival space, natural proportions, and unbroken, evenly modulated tonal values which had dominated painting since the Renaissance but which had been systematically dismantled by Modernism. The tendency received its name with an exhibition at the Mannheim Kunsthalle in 1925, organized by Gustav Friedrich Hartlaub, although art critics had sought to name and define it since 1920, and explicitly in opposition to an Expressionism widely perceived as moribund. Hartlaub described what he saw as a split in the overall tendency, with an inclination toward traditionalism and classicism on the "right" wing, and toward aggressively critical social commentary and a propensity to exaggeration and caricature on the "left" (although Hartlaub denied that there was any political significance to his terminology of "left" and "right," the artists assigned to the "left" wing were either active in or openly sympathetic to the left wing of German politics).


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