This work deals with the interactive interface for remote controlled robots and examines some of the existing visualization and simulation tools and robotic platforms. It also designs and implements interactive elements suitable for representation of detected objects, such as bounding box or billboard, and proposes interactive elements to eliminate some of the problems associated with remote control of the robot, such as bad perception of distances and the orientation in the environment. The interactive interface is implemented in the Robot Operating System using offered means for visualization, communication and operations management. Graphics primitives are represented by Interactive Markers that, in addition to the visualization, offers also possibilities of interaction. With these markers, a simple tool for controlling the movement of the robot is designed.

The purpose of this project is two fold: (a) to evaluate the technology (hardware and software) of the student response system (SRS) used at Brigham Young University (BYU) and (b) to evaluate which instructional methods being used with the SRS students' feel are most helpful. In the past, the student response systems supported by BYU have not fully met the needs of professors and problems with the systems have limited professors' uses of the SRS. Ten professors were randomly selected to participate in the evaluation using a stratified random sampling technique. The data collection methods consisted of classroom observations, interviews with the ten selected professors, focus groups with students in the professors' classes, a student survey, and a professor survey. Data were collected throughout Winter semester 2007. The new system, iClicker, functioned well for the majority of professors. Some technical problems were encountered, but professors were typically able to resolve them as they gained more experience with the system. The most frequently stated problem for professors was with iGrader, which limited some professors' uses of the system. Students, however, experienced few technical problems with their clickers. The most frequent problem cited from students was the clicker shutting off easily. Students were generally positive about the helpfulness of the instructional methods professors were using. The instructional method students found most helpful was receiving immediate feedback. They also felt their comprehension of course material, attendance to lecture, attentiveness/engagement during lecture, participation in lecture, and achievement in the course had increased from using the SRS. However, a significant factor in students' perceptions of the clicker's helpfulness was the cost of purchasing the clicker. The least positive students felt that the cost of purchasing the clicker outweighed the benefits of using a student response system. These students rated the instructional methods as less helpful and rated their comprehension, attendance, engagement, participation, and achievement increasing less than those that felt the cost was worth the benefit.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

L’infiltration d’éosinophiles dans la muqueuse bronchique est une caractéristique majeure de l’asthme. Les protéases sont essentielles pour réguler la migration cellulaire du sang vers la muqueuse bronchique. Les travaux présentés dans cette thèse décrivent quelques mécanismes de la modulation de l’activité protéolytique des éosinophiles. Parmi les nombreuses protéases exprimées par l’éosinophile, la métalloprotéinase de la matrice (MMP)-9 et la plasmine générée via la protéine activatrice de type urokinase (uPA) sont cruciales dans la migration de ces cellules dans les tissus. Cette thèse décrit le mécanisme d’action de deux types de médiateurs lipidiques, les cystéinyl-leucotriènes (cysLTs) et l’acide 5-oxo-6,8,11,14-éicosatétraénoïque (5-oxo-ETE), dans le recrutement des éosinophiles. En présence de 5-oxo-ETE, l’éosinophile migre en sécrétant la MMP-9, la plasmine et exprime plus fortement le récepteur de l’uPA (uPAR). Nous avons démontré que les cysLTs sont impliqués dans la migration sans toutefois influencer la protéolyse. Par contre, le montelukast, un antagoniste du récepteur cysLT de type 1 (CysLT1), diminue l’expression d’uPAR, la sécrétion de MMP-9 et la génération de plasmine. Ces résultats suggèrent que le montelukast ne serait pas un antagoniste neutre du CysLT1, mais un agoniste inverse, quoique cette hypothèse doive être confirmée. Ensuite, pour mieux comprendre comment le 5-oxo-ETE induit la sécrétion de protéases, la signalisation sous-jacente a été étudiée. Les travaux démontrent que la protéine kinase C (PKC)-δ, la PKC-ζ, l’extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)-1/ 2 et la p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) jouent un rôle majeur dans la migration induite par le 5-oxo-ETE. Notamment, l’activation d’ERK-1/2 semble dépendre de la présence de plasminogène dans le milieu. La plasmine générée à partir du plasminogène peut activer ERK-1 /2 et ainsi stimuler la sécrétion de MMP-9. Ces résultats démontrent la complexité de la régulation des protéases chez l’éosinophile et documente le rôle primordial des PKC et des MAPK dans cette modulation. / Infiltration of eosinophils into the bronchial mucosa is a key feature in asthma pathology. With the influence of mediators, eosinophils have the capacity to interact with structural cells, modulate their functions, promote airway remodelling, and activate and recruit other inflammatory cells. Proteases are essential to promote cell migration from blood into tissue and interactions with tissue structural cells and extracellular matrix components. This work presents some of the mechanisms modulating eosinophil protease activity, more specifically the production of MMP-9 and plasmin. Herein, we evaluated the mechanism of action of two lipid mediators, the cysteinyl-leukotrienes (cysLTs) and the 5-oxo-ETE, in eosinophil recruitment. 5-Oxo-ETE elicits eosinophil migration by activating MMP-9 secretion, plasmin generation and by increasing uPAR expression. The cysLTs are also implicated in eosinophil migration but not in protease activation. On the other hand, montelukast, a cysLT type 1 receptor antagonist, decreases uPAR expression, MMP-9 secretion and plasmin generation. These results suggest that montelukast is not a neutral antagonist, but an inverse agonist in eosinophils, although this hypothesis needs to be validated. Thereafter, we were interested in signalling induced by 5-oxo-ETE. Our results demonstrated that protein kinase C (PKC)-δ, PKC-ζ, extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)-1/2 and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) play a major role in eosinophil migration. The implication of ERK-1/2 seems to depend on plasminogen presence in the medium. Plasmin generated from plasminogen activates ERK-1/2 and stimulates MMP-9 secretion. These results demonstrate the complex regulation of eosinophil proteases and the essential implication of PKC and MAPK in this process.

<p>With the general engineering practices being followed for the development of scientific software, scientists are seemingly able to simulate real world problems successfully and generate accurate numerical results. However, scientific software is rarely presented in such a way that an external reviewer would feel comfortable in certifying that the software is fit for its intended use. The documentation of the software development - Requirements, Design and Implementation, is not being given the importance it deserves. Often, the requirements are improperly and insufficiently recorded, which make the design decisions difficult. Similarly, incomplete documentation of design decisions and numerical algorithms make the implementation difficult. Lack of traceability between the requirements, design and the code leads to problems with building confidence in the results.</p> <p>To study the problems faced during certification, a case study was performed on a legacy software used by a nuclear power generating company in the 1980's for safety analysis in a nuclear reactor. Unlike many other scientific codes of that time, the nuclear power generating company included a full theory manual with their code. Although the theory manual was very helpful, the documentation and development approach still needed significant updating. During the case study, 27 issues were found with the documentation of the theory manual, 2 opportunities to update the design and 6 programming style issues were found in the original FORTRAN code. This shows room for improvement in the documentation techniques in the development of scientific software based on a physical model.</p> <p>This thesis provides a solution to the certification problem, by introducing software engineering methodologies in the documentation of the scientific software. This work proposes a new template for the Software Requirements Specification (SRS) to clearly and sufficiently state the functional and the non-functional requirements, while satisfying the desired qualities for a good SRS. Furthermore, the proposed template acts as a checklist and helps in systematically and adequately developing the requirements document. For developing the design and implementation, this thesis introduces Literate Programming (LP) as an alternative to traditional structured programming. Literate Programming documents the numerical algorithms, logic behind the development and the code together in the same document, the Literate Programmer's Manual (LPM). The LPM is developed in connection with the SRS. The explicit traceability between the theory, numerical algorithms and implementation (code), simplifies the process of verification and the associated certification.</p> / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

Assurance Cases have been effectively used for improving the safety of real-time safety systems. However, until now, Assurance Case techniques have not been applied to building confidence in the correctness of Scientific Computing (SC) software. Our approach is to employ Assurance Case techniques to the case of a specific medical image analysis software, 3dfim+, and then generalize the results/template for other medical and SC software. Using the Goal Structuring Notation (GSN), we develop an Assurance Case to support the top goal that "Program 3dfim+ delivers correct outputs when used for its intended use/purpose in its intended environment." This claim is supported by several sub-claims, including the claims that high-quality requirements exist and that the implementation complies with the requirements. The full argument decomposes each sub-claim further until at the bottom level evidence is provided. The evidence provided includes the requirements documentation, test cases and expert review. To simplify the Assurance Case diagram, a new generic module, parameterized over quality, was developed to argue that each quality has been achieved. Evaluation of the full Assurance Case shows that this approach is feasible for building confidence in SC software, even in the practical situation where confidence is sought, but redesign and reimplementation are not possible. The exercise uncovered issues with the original documentation for 3dfim+, including missing assumptions, and ambiguity with the chosen sign convention. Furthermore, although no errors in output were found, the Assurance Case highlights that confidence in the original 3dfim+ software could be improved through additional checks for input validity. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

A presente dissertação tem o escopo analisar o transexualismo em seus aspectos históricos, culturais, científicos, médicos, jurídicos e bioéticos, em especial quanto à submissão à cirúrgica da transgenitalização, como manifestação do princípio da dignidade da pessoa humana, do direito de isonomina e do direito à saúde, garantias fundamentais previstas na Constituição Federal. O progresso da medicina permite, há décadas, a mudança de sexo, adequando a genitália do transexual ao seu sexo psicológico, inconciliáveis e antagônicos. Entretanto, o transexual se depara com a falta de dispositivo legal que regulamente o ato cirúrgico de mudança de sexo e a retificação do registro civil, adequando o nome e o sexo do transexual operado à nova situação. O percurso dos interessados na mudança de sexo é difícil, repleto de obstáculos de diversas ordens, onde muitas vezes, o judiciário representa a consolidação do sofrimento e da exclusão social. O exercício pleno da cidadania exige o reconhecimento do direito à redesignação sexual e retificação do nome e do sexo no registro civil, além do direito à família, especificamente, ao casamento e à filiação. O presente estudo tem como objetivo demonstrar que a cirurgia de transgenitalização, bem como a correspondente alteração do registro civil do transexual são formas de concretização de direitos fundamentais, do direito à saúde e meios de proteção à dignidade da pessoa humana. / This thesis has as its main objective to analyze transsexualism in its historical, cultural, scientific , medical, legal and bioethical aspect, especially regarding the performance of the Sex Reassignment Surgery (RSR) as a manifestation of the human dignity principle, the right to isonomy and the right to health, and to fundamental guarantees provided for in the Federal Constitution . Medical advances have made the Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS) possible for decades, thus adapting the genitalia of the transsexual to his/her psychological gender, which is irreconcilable and antagonistic. However, the transsexual is faced with the lack of legal provisions to regulate sex change operations and to ratify civil registry records, adjusting the name and the gender of the operated transsexual to the new situation. The ones interested in sex change operations have a long way to go; they will have to overcome all sorts of obstacles, where quite often the judiciary is the consolidation of suffering and social exclusion. The full and effective exercise of citizenship requires a recognition of the right to the Sexual Reassignment Surgery (SRS) and to name and gender rectification in civil registries, besides the right to family, more specifically, the right to marriage and to affiliation. This study has as its main objective to demonstrate that the Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS) as well as the corresponding modification of the transgender civil registry are embodiments of fundamental rights, and of health rights and they also are safeguards of human dignity.

<p>Systems development projects and their documents are more or less standardized and can mainly be applied on systems that are supposed to be built from scratch, or updated. In pace with the number of IT-systems are increasing worldwide there is no need for every organization to build their own IT-system. Nowadays it is also possible to purchase licenses which allow the purchaser to modify or add functions to the system. Along with those changes, there have been an increased amount of “rapid development methods” such as Agile and “Quick and Dirty” solutions, but these methods and perspectives are mainly focusing on entire systems development processes, as the old ones, but quicker.</p><p>If a company purchases an off-the-shelf system with source code available, there is no real need to go through a proper systems development process. During interviews with a small company that has acquired a system as mentioned above, the researcher realized that only one single document is needed, the requirements specification. Today’s requirements specifications can be either well detailed or less, but a project still needs the details specified. Combining a known agile development process with IEEE’s standardized requirements specification, a new way to proceed with projects based on one single document (the requirements specification) has been made. This document also has a focus on simplicity for the inexperienced readers, but with the depth that every developer has got a use for.</p>