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The threat posed by nuclear weapons to world peace need not be exaggerated. Advancement in science and technology has enabled us to go for a complete annihilation of not only the Homo sapiens but all the species on earth. Should we permit our idiocy entangled with the nuclear weapons to destroy us or should we, the thinking animals, permit our wisdom to outlive the demonic nuclear weapons, is a question that is being asked by sensible people all over the world today. Just public denouncement of weapons of mass destruction is un-utilitarian. Mankind has been hearing such hollow, absurd words ever since the first atomic test. We have been feeding ourselves on a diet of hypocrisy. If it is not that what else is CTBT? Should the world permit demons to chant mantra? Isn’t it time to recognize that the world is governed not by saints but by Satans? (This is because rise and fall of civilizations has taught us that might is still right.) Isn’t it time to understand that only a metamorphosis of the Satans into saints can save the world? If we know that well, we should start thinking how the nuclear Satans could be transformed into nuclear saints and it is only logical that the nuke Satans should take initiative in transforming themselves, which alone would salvage the world. The present study is premised on these assumptions.

This paper aims to propose a system to acquire images automatically for digital reconstruction of heritage artifacts using a six-degree of freedom industrial manipulator.

A virtual environment is created using Robot Studio® software to integrate the trajectory and differential motion of the robot manipulator and the motion of camera while acquiring images. A new area similarity matrix method is proposed to reduce the number of images required for digital reconstruction using Autodesk Recap® software. Real-time experiments have been performed using objects such as minion, ultimaker robot and cube. Evaluation of the digital reconstruction is conducted using the contour area matching method.

The number of images required for reconstruction based on area similarity matrix method is reduced to 63 per cent when compared with the random selection method. Quality parameters such as surface area, volume, number of defect holes, vertices and faces are enhanced for the proposed method.

Digital reconstruction of large-sized heritage artifacts cannot be performed in this setup. But this can be overcome by fixing the manipulator on a mobile platform or overhead crane. This paper does not discuss the reconstruction of partially damaged heritage artifacts, which could be accomplished based on deep learning techniques.

Using this approach, off-the-shelf heritage artifacts and large-scale objects can be reconstructed digitally with a minimum number of images and without compromising the quality of original models.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, area similarity-based approach in 3D digital reconstruction by coupling the kinematics of an industrial manipulator and camera is proposed for the first time. A fully automated digital reconstruction technology to preserve valuable heritage artifacts has been developed. It also highlights the space constraints of the industrial manipulator in digital reconstruction.

This paper aims to discuss the precise altitude and velocity tracking control of a hypersonic vehicle, a global adaptive neural backstepping controller was studied based on a disturbance observer (DOB).

The DOB combined with a radial basis function (RBF) neural network (NN) was used to estimate the disturbance terms that are generated by the flexible modes of the hypersonic vehicle system. A global adaptive neural method was introduced to approximate the unknown system dynamics, with robust control terms pulling the system transient states back into the neural approximation domain externally.

The globally uniformly ultimately bounded for all signals of a closed-loop system can be guaranteed by the proposed control algorithm. Additionally, the command filtered backstepping methods can avoid the explosion of the complexity problem caused by the backstepping design process. In addition, the effectiveness of the proposed controller can be verified by the simulation used in this study.

Normally lateral dynamics issue should be discussed in the process of control system designed, the lateral dynamics are not included in the nonlinear dynamic model of hypersonic vehicle used in this paper, merely the longitudinal flight dynamics are discussed in this paper.

The flexible states in rigid modes are considered as the disturbance of the system, which is estimated by structuring DOB with NN approximations. The compensating tracking error and prediction error are used in the update law of RBF NN weight. The differential explosions complexity derived from the backstepping procedure is dealt with by using command filters.

South Africa is the highest consumer of commercial energy per capita in Africa, ranking 16th in the world for primary energy consumption. It is also ranked among the bottom 50 of the 150 countries regarding energy efficiency. The cold chain is a large contributor through refrigerated transport vehicles. To comply with the changing climate regulations, cryogenic and eutectic systems are systems with great potential for small distance refrigerated transport. The purpose of this paper is to introduce eutectic system to medium distance refrigerated transport.

This study presents the potential use of Eutectic plates inside a medium refrigerated transport vehicle, by numerically investigating the characteristics of phase change material eutectic plates applied at low-temperature ranges. A physical model and a mathematical model for three-dimensional transient natural flow were developed as proposed by Xiaofeng and Zhang. Using the governing equation of mass, momentum and energy conservation, three Eutectic plate configurations were modeled and simulated in ANSYS Fluent for 5 h.

A uniform heat transfer and airflow condition inside a refrigerated compartment were predicted using the Reynolds stress model. The configuration with eutectic plates placed at the top and side showed great potential for the system functioning in the South African climate.

Medium refrigerated transport vehicle.

This configuration had a high-temperature distribution across the compartment and promoted high air circulations, showing that it could be ideal for medium refrigerated transport vehicles delivering perishable foodstuffs or non-food goods.

This article attempts to highlight the defining role that community media engagements play during times of the pandemic. It is argued that the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic forced community news media houses to reinvent their news reporting practices to cover issues pertaining to the marginalized and underprivileged sections of the society. It explores the role of community media in engaging and empowering the citizens during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Central to our study is the analysis of the news model of “Video Volunteers” (henceforth VV), an independent community-based online news platform based in India. To understand the level of citizen participation and engagement in the making and dissemination of news during the pandemic, the authors conducted 13 interviews with different stakeholders of VV, including founders and news audiences.

It seeks to reveal that when the mainstream media have failed to represent the issues of a local community, it is the independent media platforms like VV which function as a veritable source of information and sharing of knowledge. Most importantly, this paper emphasizes that the communicative model of independent community-based online platforms has been most successful in the coverage of the pandemic and the level of engagement with the citizenry.

The study contributes to the aspects of reciprocity and collaborative journalism in community news media and its potential impacts on news creation and dissemination.

This chapter introduces electroencephalography (EEG), a measure of neurophysiological activity, as a critical method for investigating individual and team decision-making and cognition. EEG is a useful tool for expanding the theoretical and research horizons in organizational cognitive neuroscience, with a lower financial cost and higher portability than other neuroimaging methods (e.g., functional magnetic resonance imaging). This chapter briefly reviews past work that has applied cognitive neuroscience methods to investigate cognitive processes and outcomes. The focus is on describing contemporary EEG measures that reflect individual cognition and compare them to complementary measures in the field of psychology and management. The authors discuss how neurobiological measures of cognition relate to and may predict both individual cognitive performance and team cognitive performance (decision-making). This chapter aims to assist scholars in the field of managerial and organizational cognition in understanding the complementarity between psychological and neurophysiological methods, and how they may be combined to develop new hypotheses in the intersection of these research fields.