scholarly journals The biomimetics potential of cave-dwelling animals

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Hesselberg
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Application ◽  
Visual Navigation ◽  
Engineering Problem ◽  
Biological Research ◽  
High Humidity ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Potential Target ◽  
Interdisciplinary Field ◽  
Morphological Adaptations ◽  
The Rich

Biomimetics or biologically inspired design is a relatively new interdisciplinary field that aims to harness the processes and mechanisms in nature that have been optimised over million of years’ evolution to improve our own technology. There are two main approaches to biological inspired design – the problem-driven approach starting with an engineering problem and searching through biological equivalents or the solution-driven approach which starts with a biological example or solution followed by the identification of a suitable engineering application (Lenau et al. 2018). While the former approach is the most popular and is favoured by engineers, the latter remains the most successful and is typically driven by fundamental biological research. However, no biomimetic solutions or concepts have so far been described from subterranean habitats despite the rich potential arising from the wonderfully diverse range of bizarre morphological, physiological and behavioural adaptations that have arisen in response to the environmental constraints. In this presentation I give an outline of potential biomimetics examples arising from cave-dwelling animals in three technology fields. Biomaterials – the high humidity, lack of light and stable temperatures may have given rise to novel biomatarials. A promising study on the properties of silk from the Tasmanian cave spider Hickmania troglodytes is currently underway (Piorkowski et al. 2017). Adhesion devices. The high humidity and smooth wet surfaces underground may have given rise to unique morphological adaptations to adhere to and move on these surfaces. Potential target organisms include millipedes, springtails and cave angel fish. Biorobotics. Biomaterials – the high humidity, lack of light and stable temperatures may have given rise to novel biomatarials. A promising study on the properties of silk from the Tasmanian cave spider Hickmania troglodytes is currently underway (Piorkowski et al. 2017). Adhesion devices. The high humidity and smooth wet surfaces underground may have given rise to unique morphological adaptations to adhere to and move on these surfaces. Potential target organisms include millipedes, springtails and cave angel fish. Biorobotics. The characteristics of the subterranean habitats potentially offer rich inspiration for the design of exploration robots ranging from flexible movement in constrained spaces, flight in low light conditions and non-visual navigation. The hope is that this presentation will inspire experienced biospeleologists to consider and explore potential novel biomimetic applications in their own study organisms.

scholarly journals FAST REGISTRATION OF TERRESTRIAL LIDAR POINT CLOUD AND SEQUENCE IMAGES

2017 ◽  
Vol XLII-2/W7 ◽  
pp. 875-879
Author(s):  
J. Shao ◽  
W. Zhang ◽  
Y. Zhu ◽  
A. Shen
Keyword(s):  
Point Cloud ◽  
Engineering Application ◽  
Image Point ◽  
Color Information ◽  
Registration Accuracy ◽  
Registration Method ◽  
Terrestrial Lidar ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Ground Based Lidar

Image has rich color information, and it can help to promote recognition and classification of point cloud. The registration is an important step in the application of image and point cloud. In order to give the rich texture and color information for LiDAR point cloud, the paper researched a fast registration method of point cloud and sequence images based on the ground-based LiDAR system. First, calculating transformation matrix of one of sequence images based on 2D image and LiDAR point cloud; second, using the relationships of position and attitude information among multi-angle sequence images to calculate all transformation matrixes in the horizontal direction; last, completing the registration of point cloud and sequence images based on the collinear condition of image point, projective center and LiDAR point. The experimental results show that the method is simple and fast, and the stitching error between adjacent images is litter; meanwhile, the overall registration accuracy is high, and the method can be used in engineering application.

Conflict Management and Resolution

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brandon D. Lundy ◽  
Edwin Njonguo
Keyword(s):  
Conflict Management ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Academic Disciplines ◽  
Water Shortages ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Cultural Contexts ◽  
Interdisciplinary Field ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Conflict Reconciliation ◽  
The Individual

Conflict management and resolution are processes for dealing with discord or facilitating peaceful and satisfactory cessations to conflict, and even potentially its transformation. Ideas and actions about how disputes are handled within various historical, geographic, political, economic, and cultural contexts and structures come from a range of positions, people, and institutions, with some approaches having empirical, experiential, precedential, authoritative, or intuitive support. The aggregation, analysis, and dissemination of these processes have led to the development of related fields within peace and conflict studies. Identified approaches to conflict management and resolution include, but are not limited to, alternative dispute resolution (negotiation, facilitation, mediation, case analysis, early neutral evaluation, conciliation, and arbitration), peacebuilding, and diplomacy. As an interdisciplinary field, scholarship is drawn from a broad range of academic disciplines, including social psychology, law, economics, and political science. These theories and processes are often systematically designed toward specific ends (e.g., management, analysis, resolution, transformation) and get applied at the individual, community, institutional, regional, state, and/or international levels. Through an analysis of the extant African studies resources focusing on conflict management and resolution, emergent themes fall into two broad categories: applied mechanisms of conflict management and resolution, and conflict issues affecting the continent. The African continent has seen its fair share of violent and intractable conflicts, both intra- and interstate. From the Arab Spring in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya beginning in 2010 to the Niger Delta conflict and Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria, Kenyan presidential election violence, or South African water shortages, conflict and the need for its management, analysis, and resolution are abundant. Engagement (not isolation) and active dialogue, collaboration, and conflict sensitivity (i.e., do no harm) are essential keys to studying, managing, resolving, and transforming the diverse range of conflict situations found throughout Africa. External, internal (i.e., indigenous or localized), and hybrid models can open and sustain pathways to peace. Many scholars now argue that conflict management, analysis, and resolution must address root causes, take an interdisciplinary approach, not conflate conflict and violence, use multiscalar perspectives (i.e., individual, group, state, interstate), and employ multicultural sensitivities attuned to cultural contexts and global sources of conflict. Scholars and practitioners must investigate and better understand the origins, causes, resolution, and consequences of conflicts in contemporary Africa in relation to their postcolonial contexts. Concerns include ethnic, religious, political, and environmental conflict factors, as well as demographic pressures. The stakeholder roles in post-conflict reconciliation and reconstruction should also be determined and continually evaluated to ensure effectiveness in African conflicts.

scholarly journals Histochemistry as a versatile research toolkit in biological research, not only an applied discipline in pathology

2018 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlo Pellicciari
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Field ◽  
Live Cells ◽  
Biological Research ◽  
Cellular Mechanisms ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Dynamic Events ◽  
Research Fields ◽  
Tissue Biology ◽  
Disease Specific ◽  
Methodological Refinement

The impressive progress of histochemistry over the last 50 years has led to setting up specific and sensitive techniques to describe dynamic events, through the detection of specific molecules in the very place where they exist in live cells. The scientific field where histochemistry has most largely been applied is histopathology, with the aim to identify disease-specific molecular markers or to elucidate the etiopathological mechanisms. Numerous authors did however apply histochemistry to a variety of other research fields; their interests range from the microanatomy of animal and plant organisms to the cellular mechanisms of life. This is especially apparent browsing the contents of the histochemical journals where the articles on subjects other than pathology are the majority; these journals still keep a pivotal role in the field of cell and tissue biology, while being a forum for a diverse range of biologists whose scientific interests expand  the research horizon of histochemistry to ever novel subjects. Thus, histochemistry can always receive inspiring stimuli toward a continuous methodological refinement.

scholarly journals Inspiration for wing design: how forelimb specialization enables active flight in modern vertebrates

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (131) ◽  
pp. 20170240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana D. Chin ◽  
Laura Y. Matloff ◽  
Amanda Kay Stowers ◽  
Emily R. Tucci ◽  
David Lentink
Keyword(s):  
Diverse Range ◽  
Wide Margin ◽  
Morphological Adaptations ◽  
Flight Muscles ◽  
Biological Sources ◽  
Bat Wing ◽  
And Control ◽  
Aerodynamic Surfaces ◽  
Flying Robots

Harnessing flight strategies refined by millions of years of evolution can help expedite the design of more efficient, manoeuvrable and robust flying robots. This review synthesizes recent advances and highlights remaining gaps in our understanding of how bird and bat wing adaptations enable effective flight. Included in this discussion is an evaluation of how current robotic analogues measure up to their biological sources of inspiration. Studies of vertebrate wings have revealed skeletal systems well suited for enduring the loads required during flight, but the mechanisms that drive coordinated motions between bones and connected integuments remain ill-described. Similarly, vertebrate flight muscles have adapted to sustain increased wing loading, but a lack of in vivo studies limits our understanding of specific muscular functions. Forelimb adaptations diverge at the integument level, but both bird feathers and bat membranes yield aerodynamic surfaces with a level of robustness unparalleled by engineered wings. These morphological adaptations enable a diverse range of kinematics tuned for different flight speeds and manoeuvres. By integrating vertebrate flight specializations—particularly those that enable greater robustness and adaptability—into the design and control of robotic wings, engineers can begin narrowing the wide margin that currently exists between flying robots and vertebrates. In turn, these robotic wings can help biologists create experiments that would be impossible in vivo .

scholarly journals 'It's all the things'? Exploring teachers' views on the notion of 'community' in early childhood education

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Judith Hamer
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Physical World ◽  
Political Discussion ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Study Centre ◽  
Education And Care ◽  
The Rich

<p>This thesis explores the multiple meanings of ‘community’ within early childhood education (ECE). Utilising a qualitative, interpretive approach, this exploratory case study has sought to gain an in-depth understanding of how teachers view the meaning of ‘community’ within a typical, non-community-owned ECE centre. Rogoff’s (1984, 1995) three planes of sociocultural activity (personal, interpersonal and institutional) have been utilised as a theoretical framework to more fully understand the rich context of this case study centre. Findings from this study highlight that practices of this centre primarily focus inwards on the education and care of the enrolled children and the support of their families within the ECE ‘centre community’. However, despite this, the teachers both collectively and individually also reflect a diverse range of views on the notion of ‘community’ in terms of people, place and connections, including views that look outwards to consider the child within the context of their wider social and physical world. This study concludes that there needs to be a much larger social and political discussion about the notion of ‘community’ within the wider ECE sector, including the role and provision of ECE, not only in terms of the care and education of children but within society as a whole.</p>

Applied linguistics in its disciplinary context

2010 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 14.1-14.17
Author(s):  
Anthony J. Liddicoat
Keyword(s):  
Research Methods ◽  
Applied Linguistics ◽  
Academic Work ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Interdisciplinary Field ◽  
Research Excellence ◽  
High Degree ◽  
Quality Of Research

Australia’s current attempt to develop a process to evaluate the quality of research (Excellence in Research for Australia – ERA) places a central emphasis on the disciplinary organisation of academic work. This disciplinary focus poses particular problems for Applied Linguistics in Australia. This paper will examine Applied Linguistics in relation to this issue of discipline in two ways. First, it will examine ways in which Applied Linguistics has articulated for itself its disciplinary nature. In most formulations of the focus of Applied Linguistics, the emphasis has not been on identifying a discipline, but rather on identifying an area of focus. Such formulations necessarily cover a very diverse range of research methods, theories, etc. This approach can be seen as one of emphasising diversity and breadth within the field. Other attempts have been made to characterise Applied Linguistics in more discipline-like terms. Such broad characterisations however conceal a high degree of internal diversity. Applied Linguistics does not appear to be a ‘discipline’ but rather an interdisciplinary field of enquiry. Second, the paper will examine some possible implications of the diversity of Applied Linguistics for how it is positioned through the ERA process.

scholarly journals Borophene-graphene heterostructures

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (10) ◽  
pp. eaax6444 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaolong Liu ◽  
Mark C. Hersam
Keyword(s):  
Vertical Integration ◽  
2D Materials ◽  
Two Dimensional ◽  
Promising Candidate ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Spectroscopic Measurements ◽  
Synthesis Conditions ◽  
Spatially Resolved ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Its Polymorphism

Integration of dissimilar two-dimensional (2D) materials is essential for nanoelectronic applications. Compared to vertical stacking, covalent lateral stitching requires bottom-up synthesis, resulting in rare realizations of 2D lateral heterostructures. Because of its polymorphism and diverse bonding geometries, borophene is a promising candidate for 2D heterostructures, although suitable synthesis conditions have not yet been demonstrated. Here, we report lateral and vertical integration of borophene with graphene. Topographic and spatially resolved spectroscopic measurements reveal nearly atomically sharp lateral interfaces despite imperfect crystallographic lattice and symmetry matching. In addition, boron intercalation under graphene results in rotationally commensurate vertical heterostructures. The rich bonding configurations of boron suggest that borophene can be integrated into a diverse range of 2D heterostructures.

Numerical Simulation and Engineering Application of Bolt’s Supporting in Tectonic Stress Field

2011 ◽  
Vol 383-390 ◽  
pp. 7691-7696
Author(s):  
Feng Nan ◽  
Zhi Qiang Kang ◽  
Fu Ping Li
Keyword(s):  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Engineering Application ◽  
Tectonic Stress ◽  
Engineering Problem ◽  
Design System ◽  
Finite Element Software ◽  
Coal Roadway ◽  
Deformation Stress ◽  
Roadway Deformation ◽  
Aided Design

Roadway bolt supporting, which relates the equations such as ground stress, mechanical property of surrounding rock and bolt supporting structure, is an engineering problem of rock and structure coupling. Three-dimensional developing entry bolt supporting aided design system was developed by using ANSYS finite element software. Supporting function mechanics of coal roadway bolt supporting was analyzed and calculated. The effects of bolt supporting under similar conditions on roadway deformation, stress and displacement field around the roadway was mainly studied. The simulation results were applied in bolt supporting engineering of a coal mine 2395 entity coal roadway, and excellent supporting results were obtained which provides good experience for further generalization and application.

Semiotic modeling and education

Semiotica ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 (215) ◽  
pp. 365-379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongbing Yu
Keyword(s):  
Brain Function ◽  
Interdisciplinary Field ◽  
Nature Versus Nurture ◽  
Modeling Systems ◽  
Semiotic Modeling ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Field Of Inquiry ◽  
Relevant Experiment

AbstractWithin the rich legacy left by Thomas Sebeok, there is a critical concept of semiotic modeling that directly addresses the core of the philosophy of education in the light of semiotics and affords valuable implications for the nascent interdisciplinary field of inquiry of edusemiotics or educational semiotics, essentially a philosophy of human knowing. The present paper argues that the concept of modeling as in Modeling Systems Theory has elevated us above the long-standing debate over nature versus nurture in the discussions of education and sheds light on the dynamic co-shaping relationship between the modeling subject and its models, as well as the fact that human brain function bio-culturally, as is evidenced by a crucial concept in the field of neurophysiology known as “neuroplasticity” and relevant experiment findings from neurophysiological and cognitive researches over the past few decades. It further claims that life-long education is not just something educators and educatees should keep advocating, but more of a de facto state of human existence. It concludes by confirming that in future edusemiotic studies more attention can and should be directed to the determination of the subject’s semiosic stage, for which the semiosic capacities of the subject are to be further explored, tested and facilitated.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hugo Meijer ◽  
Marco Wyss
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
European Security ◽  
Central Importance ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
The Comparative Study ◽  
National Defence

The introduction, which sets the stage for The Handbook, contends that, when it comes to European security and defence, analytical precedence should be given back to Europe’s national defence policies and armed forces. Therefore, it first addresses the different historical stages in the rise and decline of the CSDP and the transformation of national armed forces in Europe since the end of the cold war. Then, it questions the seemingly unjustified predominance of the CSDP vis-à-vis the comparative study of national defence policies in the literature on European defence. With the case made for the ‘analytical resurgence’ of national armed forces in Europe, the third section demonstrates the fruitfulness of such a demarche by summarizing the central findings of The Handbook. What emerges from the rich and diverse range of contributions in this volume is that national armed forces have regained their central importance.

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