Principle of Limiting Factors-Driven Piecewise Population Growth Model I: Qualitative Exploration and Study Cases on Continuous-Time Dynamics

We examine the comportment of the global trajectory of a piecewisely conceived single species population growth model. Formulation relies on what we develop as the principle of limiting factors for population growth, adapted from the law of the minimum of Liebig and the law of the tolerance of Shelford. The ensuing paradigm sets natality and mortality rates to express through extreme values of population growth determining factor. Dynamics through time occur over different growth phases. Transition points are interpreted as thresholds of viability, starvation, and intraspecific competition. In this delivery, we focus on the qualitative study of the global trajectory expressed on continuous time and on exploring the feasibility of analytical results against data on populations growing under experimental or natural conditions. All study cases sustained fittings of high reproducibility both at empirical and interpretative slants. Possible phase configurations include regimes with multiple stable equilibria, sigmoidal growth, extinction, or stationarity. Here, we also outline that the associating discrete-time piecewise model composes the logistic map applied over a particular region of the phase configuration. Preliminary exploratory analysis suggests that the logistic map’s chaos onset could surpass once the orbit enters a contiguous phase region.

Vision Object-Oriented Augmented Sampling-Based Autonomous Navigation for Micro Aerial Vehicles

Autonomous navigation of micro aerial vehicles in unknown environments not only requires exploring their time-varying surroundings, but also ensuring the complete safety of flights at all times. The current research addresses estimation of the potential exploration value neglect of safety issues, especially in situations with a cluttered environment and no prior knowledge. To address this issue, we propose a vision object-oriented autonomous navigation method for environment exploration, which develops a B-spline function-based local trajectory re-planning algorithm by extracting spatial-structure information and selecting temporary target points. The proposed method is evaluated in a variety of cluttered environments, such as forests, building areas, and mines. The experimental results show that the proposed autonomous navigation system can effectively complete the global trajectory, during which an appropriate safe distance could always be maintained from multiple obstacles in the environment.

Malangatana as Ethnographer? Modern Paintings of Village Life

This essay surveys ethnographic elements in the early work of pioneering Mozambican artist Malangatana Ngwenya (1936–2011) and situates his oeuvre with respect to the global trajectory of modern art.

Inculturation Methodology as the Medium towards the Formulation and Establishment of an African Ecclesiology of Ubuntu.

The emergence of ecclesiology scholarship in recent theological discourse has exposed the various approaches that ecclesiology has been studied as a distinctive discipline. The traditional ecclesiological approach has prioritized the scholarship of ecclesiology from the perspective of specific denominational orders. There has also been an approach of ecclesiology that revolves around the perspective of some renowned theologians on the basis of their affiliation to their respective church organizations. The most recent approach has been the global ecclesiology that prioritizes the concept of contextualization while looking at ecclesiological discourse from distinct sociocultural-geographical contexts. Three geographical regions hold a wealth of significance by virtue of the global trajectory of Christianity towards the global South: Asia, Africa and Latin America. African ecclesiology plays a critical role in this arrangement and is a major contributor to global ecclesiology. In this understanding, it is imperative for the pursuit of an African ecclesiology to appreciate the concept of Ubuntu as a definitive expression of the African identity. The problem is the methodology of ecclesiological scholarship in Africa that ignores the significance Ubuntu has and resultantly births a foreign ecclesiology to the indigenous African population. It is important to acknowledge that the approach of ecclesiology that will thrive in Africa is nothing less than an Ubuntu ecclesiology that prioritizes community and relationships reminiscent of our traditional African portrait as foundational pillars for her establishment. The formulation and establishment of an African friendly ecclesiology of Ubuntu can only be facilitated by the usage of the inculturation method of theology. This methodology accords due consideration to the African heritage with regard to their culture, spirituality and religious background emphasizing the values from traditional Africa that are helpful to Christian life and condemning those practices that are non-Christian in nature.

A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF STUDIES RELATING TO THE PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING OF DOCTORS AND ALLIED HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Doctors and other allied healthcare professionals are constantly exposed to stressful situations that can undoubtedly negatively affect their psychological well-being. This precarious situation has been further exacerbated due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to explore the mental stress and trauma among doctors, in light of the pandemic. A number of relevant studies (quantitative, qualitative, mixed methods, and case studies) have been gathered to present a global trajectory of the responses of the doctors in the pandemic, and, as a consequence how this has impacted their psychological well-being. Collated findings suggest a need for a more nuanced and global approach, which is necessary towards addressing the immediate and long-lasting effects of the pandemic within the medical community. This study also provides a theoretical framework that can be used to design psychological interventions which can target the healthcare profession. Keywords: community psychology; COVID-19, healthcare professionals, psychological well-being; systematic review

Learning in the Anthropocene

While the precautionary principle may have offered a sound basis for managing environmental risk in the Holocene, the depth and width of the Anthropocene have made precaution increasingly untenable. Not only have many ecosystems already been damaged beyond natural recovery, achieving a sustainable long-term global trajectory now seem to require ever greater measures of proactionary risk-taking, in particular in relation to the growing need for climate engineering. At the same time, different optical illusions, arising from temporary emissions reductions due to the COVID-19 epidemic and the local deployment of seemingly “green” small-scale renewable energy sources, tend to obscure worsening global trends and reinforce political disinterest in developing high-energy technologies that would be more compatible with universal human development and worldwide ecological restoration. Yet, given the lack of feedback between the global and the local level, not to mention the role of culture and values in shaping perceptions of “sustainability”, the necessary learning may end up being both epistemologically and politically difficult. This paper explores the problem of finding indicators suitable for measuring progress towards meaningful climate action and the restoration of an ecologically vibrant planet. It is suggested that such indicators are essentially political as they reflect, not only different assessments of technological feasibility, but orientations towards the Enlightenment project.

Time-Continuous Real-Time Trajectory Generation for Safe Autonomous Flight of a Quadrotor in Unknown Environment

In this paper, we present an efficient global and local replanning method for a quadrotor to complete a flight mission in a cluttered and unmapped environment. A minimum-snap global path planner generates a global trajectory that comprises some waypoints in a cluttered environment. When facing unexpected obstacles, our method modifies the global trajectory using geometrical planning and closed-form formulation for an analytical solution with 9th-order polynomial. The proposed method provides an analytical solution, not a numerical one, and it is computationally efficient without falling into a local minima problem. In a simulation, we show that the proposed method can fly a quadrotor faster than the numerical method in a cluttered environment. Furthermore, we show in experiments that the proposed method can provide safer and faster trajectory generation than the numerical method in a real environment.