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This paper aims to present a method for improving the performance of the visual-inertial navigation system (VINS) by using a bio-inspired polarized light compass.

The measurement model of each sensor module is derived, and a robust stochastic cloning extended Kalman filter (RSC-EKF) is implemented for data fusion. This fusion framework can not only handle multiple relative and absolute measurements, but can also deal with outliers, sensor outages of each measurement module.

The paper tests the approach on data sets acquired by a land vehicle moving in different environments and compares its performance against other methods. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method for reducing the error growth of the VINS in the long run.

The main contribution of this paper lies in the design/implementation of the RSC-EKF for incorporating the homemade polarized light compass into visual-inertial navigation pipeline. The real-world tests in different environments demonstrate the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed approach.

Multiple-source disturbances exist in the polarization sensor, which severely affect the sensor accuracy and stability. Hence, the disturbance analysis plays a vital role in improving the sensor orientation performance. This paper aims to present a novel sensor error model, a disturbances quantitative analysis, a calibration and performance test of polarization sensor based on a polarizing beam splitter.

By combining with the sensor coefficient errors, the Azimuth of Polarization (AoP) error model and the Degree of Polarization (DoP) error model are established, respectively. In addition, the multiple-source disturbances are classified, while the influence on the orientation accuracy is quantitative analyzed. Moreover, the least square optimization algorithm is employed to calibrate the sensor coefficients. Finally, an outdoor test is carried out to test the sensor long-term accuracy.

The theoretical analysis and numerical simulations illustrate that the sensor accuracy is closely related to the disturbances. To eliminate the influence of the disturbances, the least square optimization algorithm, which can minimize the sum of squares of the residual difference of AoP and DoP, is used to calibrate the sensor coefficients. The outdoor test indicates that the sensor can maintain long-term accuracy and stability.

The main contribution of this paper is to establish a novel sensor error model, where the sensor coefficient errors are introduced. In addition, the disturbances are classified and analyzed to evaluate the orientation accuracy of the sensor.

Insects depend on the spatial, temporal and spectral distribution of light in the environment for navigation, collision avoidance and flight control. The principles of insect vision have been gradually revealed over the course of decades by biological scientists. The purpose of this paper is to report on bioinspired implementations and flight tests of these sensors and reflexes on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The devices are used for the stabilization of UAVs in attitude, heading and position. The implementations were developed to test the hypothesis that current understanding of insect optical flight control systems is feasible in real systems.

Design was based on behavioral and anatomical studies of insects. The approach taken was to test the designs in flight on a UAV.

The research showed that stabilization in attitude, heading and position is possible using the developed sensors.

Partial alternatives to magnetic, inertial and GPS sensing have been demonstrated. Optical flow and polarization compassing are particularly relevant to flight in urban environments and in planetary exploration.

For the first time the use of multispectral horizon sensing, polarization compassing and optical flow-based heading control have been demonstrated in flight.

The Westland Lynx helicopter is a particularly fine example of the use of advanced fan technology in modern aircraft applications. The firm of Airscrew Howden have come a long way from their original manufacture of the wooden ‘prop’ but they still continue to play a very essential part in all types of aircraft flying today; this takes the form of sophisticated fan designs to cover a wide variety of special air‐movement requirements that can arise in this sector.

Starting from the premise that formal ethical codes and other ethical discourses differ in their audiences, effects and characteristics, it is analyzed how practitioner‐directed ethical discourses have spoken and continue to speak about character‐based ethics. Borrowing from the literature on professions and Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of practice, starts from the assumption that editorials in practitioner‐oriented publications are a form of cultural good traded on an internal symbolic market. By providing access to symbolic capital, trade in this good acts to bind together members of the accounting profession, yet trade in this good also has the potential to obscure a number of important, underlying social issues. The study is based on a close (textual) reading of editorials in the Canadian Chartered Accountant (subsequently renamed CA Magazine) from 1911 to 1999, and this reading is framed in light of a number of macro‐level and meso‐level (contextual) changes. It is found that character‐based ethical discourses continue to pervade this professional field, though not without important changes which themselves need to be explained in light of the more widespread, non‐professional field.

THE aerodynamic sessions of this year's Annual Meeting were not quite as dramatic as in some preceding years. But how can such sessions remain always at the highest pitch? Aeroplane designers have broken through the sonic barrier and aerodynamicists now understand far better compressibility effects and supersonics. One cannot expect every year a startling announcement of the kind that von Kármán used to make, that the drag coefficient would actually drop in supersonic flight, or that camber contributes nothing to lift at the highest speeds. This intellectual calm is only temporary. Rocket flight at a hundred miles altitude where molecules become individuals will bring tine new problems. So will the design of artifificial satellites. But for the time being, research men and engineers must present papers that dig deep but do not strike out into new territory. Also it is barely possible that there is another reason for the less exciting character of the aerodynamic papers—the word ‘Restricted’. For example, in one session it appeared that the fuel consumption of a jet‐propelled helicopter is still restricted information. To mark things ‘Re‐stricted’ or ‘Confidential’ can become a tiresome habit. However, there was no lack of the striking in other directions. What, for example, could be more intriguing than a session entitled Human Engineering in Aviation? Aeronautics is not all a matter of physics, mathematics, design and innumerable gadgets. It is more than fitting that psychologists, teachers, physicians should play their part and make the life of the pilot an easier one. Of course, the engineers do occasionally develop ‘gadgets’ that help the pilot, as witness the remarkable Sperry Zero Reader (discussed in the Instruments Session), and Air‐Borne Radar (Air Transport Session) that seems to be coming into its own.

Purpose – Religious addiction treatment has experienced a rise both in its reach and exposure to attention from medical professionals. Largely autonomous conversion-based programs have received unprecedented support and legitimacy. We investigate “Victory Ministries,”11The organization ‘Victory Ministries’ is a pseudonym. Any resemblance to actual locales of this name or similar is entirely coincidental. All names have been change to protect the identity of the participants. a large Midwestern evangelical rehab facility, exploring the similarities and differences between formulations of addiction-as-disease found in “secular” rehab and the moral binaries that guide Victory's program.

Methodology/approach – Qualitative case study: Interviews and ethnography.

Findings – Working from in-depth interviews, we explore the inner workings of Victory's curriculum and program design, as it transmutes dominant therapeutic concepts and methods into its own Manichaean frame. Aided by superior financial resources and support of a tight-knit network of churches, it delivers its most successful clients into a new life “redeemed by Christ.”

Social implications – Proponents of conversion-based service provision position religious institutions as the primary agents of willing compassion and generosity beyond the family compass, stripping the rest of civil society of any claims to promote the greater good. In Victory's metaphor of “invisible war,” a Manichaean vision is quite explicit. Every definition of recovery and reintegration in terms of conversion and submission to religious authority inherently suggests that substance use stems largely from immorality and that the unsaved in general are sinful and dangerous. By funding a conversion-based shadow welfare apparatus, we argue, the US government is intensifying the criminalization of poverty, the steady downgrading of more inclusive institutions, and ultimately the materialization of Victory's Manichaean vision in a polarized nation.

The purpose of this paper is to acquaint a wide audience of readers with some of the unique remote sensing and navigation capabilities of animals.

Biomimetic comparison of remote sensors evolved by animals and sensors designed by man. The study and comparison includes thermal infrared sensors used by snakes, echolocation used by bats and dolphins, and navigation methods used by birds. Countermeasures used by prey to avoid capture are also considered.

Some animals have remote sensing and navigation capabilities that are considerably more efficient than those provided by the human body or designed by man.

Sensor designers may be encouraged to use the biometic approach in the design of new sensors.

The paper provides a better understanding of animal behaviour, especially their unique abilities to remotely sense, echolocate and navigate with high accuracy over considerable distances.

The paper presents a comparison of remote sensors used by animals with those developed by humans. Remote sensor designers can learn to improve their sensor designs by studying animal sensors within a biomimetic framework.

This paper aims to provide an insight into robot developments that use bioinspired design concepts.

Following a short introduction to biomimetics, this paper first provides examples of bioinspired terrestrial, aerial and underwater robot navigation techniques. It then discusses bioinspired locomotion and considers a selection of robotic products and developments inspired by snakes, bats, diving birds, fish and dragonflies. Finally, brief concluding comments are drawn.

The application of design concepts that mimic the capabilities and processes found in living creatures can impart robots with unique abilities. Bioinspired techniques used by insects and other organisms, notably optic flow and sunlight polarisation sensing, allow robots to navigate without the need for methods such as simultaneous localisation and mapping, GPS or inertial measurement units. Bioinspired locomotion techniques have yielded robots capable of operating in water, air and on land and in some cases, making the transition between different media.

This shows how bioinspired design concepts can impart robots with innovative and enhanced navigation and locomotion capabilities.

This paper aims to identify both the traditional and novel forms of marketing behind New Zealand Prime Minster Jacinda Ardern’s landslide victory in the 2020 New Zealand General Election during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This research analysed both qualitative and quantitative data, including over 70 primary sources, the perspectives of practitioners, polling and data from surveys with over 450,000 respondents. The qualitative data was analysed interpretively against established theoretical concepts, whereas the quantitative data was analysed through descriptive statistics.

This research found that COVID-19 drastically changed what the public prioritised, allowing Ardern and Labour to position themselves as guardians of government stability, while camouflaging previous delivery failures. Labour also used a more emergent market-oriented and “polite” populist political marketing strategy.

While the survey data used is not a perfect sample of the population, it is the largest public opinion survey in New Zealand and, given its convergence with other sources, provides valuable insights into political marketing during a crisis more broadly.

This research reinforces marketing’s most important aspect; the market should drive action. How decision makers respond to the market should depend on the environment. Thus, up-to-date market research becomes even more important during a crisis, as the environment changes rapidly. This leaves prior assumptions obsolete and implies strategy needs to be adaptive. Additionally, greater public attention provides governing leaders with the opportunity to present a more well-rounded leadership image.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first research to look at marketing while in government and election campaigning in the context of successful management of a global pandemic.