Global ETD Search

191	Bovint serum albumin påverkar överlevnad och Aβ-nivåer i Alzheimers sjuka Drosophila flugor. : Bovine serum albumin affects survival and Aβ-levels in Alzheimer's diseased Drosophila flies. Tani, Milena January 2024 (has links) Alzheimer's disease (AD) was first described more than 100 years ago and is today the most common cause of dementia. It is one of the progressive neurodegenerative diseases that affect 47 million people around the world between the ages of 60 and 90. One of the contributing factors to AD is extracellular amyloid – β (Aβ) plaques that form as a result of protein aggregation. These Aβ proteins are neurotoxic, leading to degeneration of brain neurons and loss of cognitive abilities. Because AD largely affects society, researchers are constantly working to find a cure, which currently does not exist. The purpose of this study was to use Drosophila melanogaster as a living organism model for the expression of two types of Aβ proteins related to AD, Arctic (Glu22Gly) and TandemAβ, and to study the survival of these AD flies when Bovine serum albumin (BSA) was added to the fly food. The hypothesis was that BSA would be effective in slowing down and/or preventing formation of toxic Aβ-aggregates. The focus was therefore to investigate whether the AD flies would live longer if they were allowed to eat Bovine serum albumin and whether the soluble/insoluble Aβ levels in these flies would decrease in comparison to the control AD flies that were not allowed to eat BSA. The effect of BSA on toxicity was evaluated using survival assay on male flies and the levels of soluble/insoluble Aβ were evaluated using Meso Scale Discovery (MSD) on female flies. In both experiments, the following six groups of flies were examined: myow1118 ± BSA; myoArctic ± BSA; myoTandemAβ ± BSA. Conclusions from the studies are that the survival of AD flies could not be extended by adding 0.61 mM BSA to the food, rather the data showed a weak but significant toxic effect in the presence of BSA in the AD flies. However, MSD data showed a reduction of insoluble Aβ aggregates and an equilibrium shift from insoluble Aβ aggregates to soluble Aβ aggregates in the presence of BSA in the AD flies. Equilibrium shifts were particularly detectable in Myo-TandemAβ flies fed with BSA. In Myo-Arctic flies fed with BSA only reduction of insoluble Aβ could be detected. This shows that it is not the amount of Aβ aggregates that is decisive for toxicity, but rather the presence of specific aggregates that have toxic properties. If BSA shows good results in further studies, it could be used in the future to improve AD symptoms in patients. Drosophila melanogaster Alzheimer AD BSA Bovine serum albumin Human serum albumin HSA Toxicity Aβ survival assay MSD Meso Scale Discovery Arctic (Glu22Gly) TandemAβ oligomers fibrills GAL4-UAS TM6B CyO enterocytes Drosophila melanogaster bananfluga Alzheimers BSA Bovint serum albumin Aβ Amyloida plack Överlevnad MSD Meso Scale Discovery AD Toxicitet Arctic (Glu22Gly) TandemAβ HSA Humant serum albumin GAL4-UAS TM6B CyO fibriller oligomerer enterocyter Natural Sciences Naturvetenskap Other Chemistry Topics Annan kemi Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Biokemi och molekylärbiologi Other Biological Topics Annan biologi Genetics Genetik
192	Using Digital Mapping Techniques to Rapidly Document Vulnerable Historical Landscapes in Coastal Louisiana: Holt Cemetery Case Study Moore, Alahna 18 May 2018 (has links) This thesis outlines a technique for rapid documentation of historic sites in volatile cultural landscapes. Using Holt Cemetery as an exemplary case study, a workflow was developed incorporating RTK terrain survey, UAS aerial imagery, photogrammetry, GIS, and smartphone data collection in order to create a multifaceted database of the material and spatial conditions, as well as the patterns of use, that exist at the cemetery. The purpose of this research is to create a framework for improving the speed of data creation and increasing the accessibility of information regarding threatened cultural resources. It is intended that these processes can be scaled and adapted for use at any site, and that the products generated can be utilized by researchers, resource management professionals, and preservationists. In utilizing expedited methods, this thesis specifically advocates for documentation of sites that exist in coastal environments and are facing imminent destruction due to environmental degradation. archaeology cemetery survey climate change coastal studies spatial database digital history documentation, GIS Holt Cemetery landscape studies Louisiana material culture New Orleans photogrammetry remote sensing spatial studies UAS survey American Material Culture Archaeological Anthropology Cultural History Digital Humanities Environmental Studies Genealogy Geographic Information Sciences Museum Studies Remote Sensing Spatial Science Urban Studies and Planning
193	Vision-based navigation and mapping for flight in GPS-denied environments Wu, Allen David 15 November 2010 (has links) Traditionally, the task of determining aircraft position and attitude for automatic control has been handled by the combination of an inertial measurement unit (IMU) with a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver. In this configuration, accelerations and angular rates from the IMU can be integrated forward in time, and position updates from the GPS can be used to bound the errors that result from this integration. However, reliance on the reception of GPS signals places artificial constraints on aircraft such as small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that are otherwise physically capable of operation in indoor, cluttered, or adversarial environments. Therefore, this work investigates methods for incorporating a monocular vision sensor into a standard avionics suite. Vision sensors possess the potential to extract information about the surrounding environment and determine the locations of features or points of interest. Having mapped out landmarks in an unknown environment, subsequent observations by the vision sensor can in turn be used to resolve aircraft position and orientation while continuing to map out new features. An extended Kalman filter framework for performing the tasks of vision-based mapping and navigation is presented. Feature points are detected in each image using a Harris corner detector, and these feature measurements are corresponded from frame to frame using a statistical Z-test. When GPS is available, sequential observations of a single landmark point allow the point's location in inertial space to be estimated. When GPS is not available, landmarks that have been sufficiently triangulated can be used for estimating vehicle position and attitude. Simulation and real-time flight test results for vision-based mapping and navigation are presented to demonstrate feasibility in real-time applications. These methods are then integrated into a practical framework for flight in GPS-denied environments and verified through the autonomous flight of a UAV during a loss-of-GPS scenario. The methodology is also extended to the application of vehicles equipped with stereo vision systems. This framework enables aircraft capable of hovering in place to maintain a bounded pose estimate indefinitely without drift during a GPS outage. Loss-of-GPS GPS-denied UAS Vision Navigation Mapping UAV Ducted fan Autonomous hover Autonomous flight Stereo vision Monocular vision Flight test Relative navigation Feature points Harris corner detector Direct linear transformation DLT Vision-aided inertial navigation GPS-aided INS Image processing Visual correspondence Autonomous flight Extended Kalman filter EKF Indoor flight Kalman filtering
194	Quantification of Land Cover Surrounding Planned Disturbances Using UAS Imagery Zachary M Miller (11819132) 19 December 2021 (has links) <p>Three prescribed burn sites and seven selective timber harvest sites were surveyed using a UAS equipped with a PPK-triggered RGB sensor to determine optimal image collection parameters surrounding each type of disturbance and land cover. The image coordinates were corrected with a third-party base station network (CORS) after the flight, and photogrammetrically processed to produce high-resolution georeferenced orthomosaics. This addressed the first objective of this study, which was to <i>establish effective data procurement methods from both before and after planned </i>disturbances. <br></p><p>Orthomosaic datasets surrounding both a prescribed burn and a selective timber harvest, were used to classify land covers through geographic image-based analysis (GEOBIA). The orthomosaic datasets were segmented into image objects, before classification with a machine-learning algorithm. Land covers for the prescribed prairie burn were 1) bare ground, 2) litter, 3) green vegetation, and 4) burned vegetation. Land covers for the selective timber harvest were 1) mature canopy, 2) understory vegetation, and 3) bare ground. 65 samples per class were collected for prairie burn datasets, and 80 samples per class were collected for timber harvest datasets to train the classifier. A supported vector machines (SVM) algorithm was used to produce four land cover classifications for each site surrounding their respective planned disturbance. Pixel counts for each class were multiplied by the ground sampled distance (GSD) to obtain area calculations for land covers. Accuracy assessments were conducted by projecting 250 equalized stratified random (ESR) reference points onto the georeferenced orthomosaic datasets to compare the classification to the imagery through visual interpretation. This addressed the second objective of this study, which was to <i>establish effective data classification methods from both before and after planned </i>disturbances.<br></p><p>Finally, a two-tailed t-Test was conducted with the overall accuracies for each disturbance type and land cover. Results showed no significant difference in the overall accuracy between land covers. This was done to address the third objective of this study which was to <i>determine if a significant difference exists between the classification accuracies between planned disturbance types</i>. Overall, effective data procurement and classification parameters were established for both <i>before </i>and <i>after </i>two common types of <i>planned </i>disturbances within the CHF region, with slightly better results for prescribed burns than for selective timber harvests.<br></p> Geography Ecology Earth Sciences not elsewhere classified Landscape Ecology Environmental Management Natural Resource Management Wildlife and Habitat Management UAS GIS GEOBIA Land Cover Image Classification Remote Sensing Natural Disturbance-Based Management NDBM Ecology Natural Resource Management Disturbance Ecology Disturbance Disturbance Efficacy Orthomosaic Object-Based Classification
195	Evidence for a dual origin of insect wings via cross-wiring of ancestral tergal and pleural gene regulatory networks Deem, Kevin David 06 April 2022 (has links) No description available. Biology Evolution and Development Developmental Biology Entomology evo-devo evolutionary developmental biology wing origin tergal pleural dual enhancer reporter assay enhancers insects FAIRE-seq open chromatin Drosophila Tribolium gene regulatory networks GRNs Gal4-UAS PhiC31 insect transgenic insect reporter assay cross species reporter assay vestigial cross-wiring
196	Assessing Spatiotemporal Variability in Glacial Watershed Hydrology: Integrating Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Field Hydrology, Cordillera Blanca, Peru. Wigmore, Oliver Henry, Wigmore January 2016 (has links) No description available. Geography Soil Sciences Robotics Remote Sensing Water Resource Management Technology Physical Geography Hydrologic Sciences Hydrology Geomorphology Peru glaciers uav uas drone unmanned aerial vehicle mapping soil moisture Andes hydrology Cordillera Blanca remote sensing structure from motion tvdi mountains water resources global climate change glaciology
197	<b>EFFICACY IN LOW-COST KINETIC APPREHENSION COUNTER DRONE SYSTEM</b> Kar Ee Ho (19183450) 25 July 2024 (has links) <p dir="ltr">This dissertation presents the design, development, and testing environment of a low-cost, self-built ground based Counter Unmanned Aerial or Aircraft Vehicle (CUAV) system aimed at providing effective aerial security solutions in resource-limited environments. The kinetic CUAV technique was selected and identified for the current study as it is the most feasible, low-cost and reusable mitigation path as last-resort defense. Utilizing commonly available materials, including parts from online retailers and hardware stores, and incorporating a self-made pneumatic system with a reusable 3D-printed projectile and interchangeable parts design. This study explores the feasibility of cost-effective drone defense and introduces a short-range accuracy metric to evaluate the system’s trajectory behavior. Through rigorous indoor testing in Purdue University Hangar 4, the research evaluates the system's performance in terms of projectile height, range, and accuracy under various environmental conditions. A 90 degrees field of view of pneumatic launcher was tested with a small error margin comparison table to highlight on areas for potential technical refinement. TPU filament was found to be the best material for this study, with 10% infill, printing temperature in 225°C (437°F), and 70 mm/s printing speed settings for the 3D-printed projectile (4.16a). These findings in Figures 4.10, 4.11, 4.12, 4.13 will significantly advance the research of low-cost drone defense technologies by providing empirical evidence on material and design choices that will impact the system performance. Findings indicate that the system’s performance is affected by the climate temperatures, which influences its consistency in different settings. This offers practical implications for enhancing security measures against unauthorized drones using similar technology. The study fills a significant gap in current drone defense technologies with kinetic apprehension by proving that effective solutions can be both affordable and accessible. This work not only contributes to the advancement of counter drone technology but also encourages ongoing design innovation in the field, paving the way for further research and development into scalable and adaptable drone defense systems.</p> Kinetic Apprehension Counter Drone System CUAV 3D-printed projectile Counter Drone Technology Drone Defense Technologies Efficacy Tests Pneumatic System Pneumatic Launcher Mortar Shell COTS drones CUAS FDM Target Accuracy Metric TPU CAD Kinetic Approach UAV UAS Drone
198	Integration of unmanned aircraft systems into civil aviation : a study of the U.S., South Africa and Kenya Rodgers, Manana Wanyonyi Edison 23 February 2021 (has links) The rapid increase and popularity of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) in civil usage around the world is due to their versatility. With advancement in technology across the globe, there are UAS of different sizes and capabilities in the market. It is imperative to note that the use and operation of UAS have numerous merits and equally, potentially poses serious risks to aviation safety, unlawful interference with States’ security as well as invasion of the privacy of persons. This reality poses a challenge to integration of UAS into the civil airspaces of different States. Accordingly, the international community developed the Chicago Convention that provides the principal framework to address the threefold concerns. At the international level, however, there is lack of a unified system of regulation of UAS. Consequently, the Chicago Convention requires States to develop national institutions and legal frameworks to not only effectively address these concerns, but also create a delicate balance between national security and right to privacy. This thesis evaluates how the legal, institutional and policy frameworks for UAS in the US, South Africa and Kenya have addressed the current needs and challenges in operation and integrating them into regulatory frameworks for civil aviation. It follows that the three States have developed constitutional frameworks, legislation, regulations, policies and strategic plans as they seek to address the challenges that emanate from integrating UAS into the civil aviation airspace. This encompasses ineffective enforcement mechanism of regulations. The thesis maps out experiences of integration in the three countries, emanating from research goals including investigating the extent to which existing international regulatory frameworks address the threefold concerns. The study establishes that the common thread running through UAS regulation is each country’s unique issues and paths to integration. Additionally, that the approach for integration of UAS into civil aviation needs be gradual and pragmatic. For this reason, this thesis recommends the development of institutional capacity, coordination and funding, and increase in regional efforts to revamp UAS integration efforts into civil aviation. / Public, Constitutional, and International Law / LL. D. (Public, Constitutional and International Law) Integration UAS International law US South Africa Kenya Civil aviation Chicago Convention ICAO FAA KCAA SACAA Regulation Legal Institutional Policy Framework Safety Security Privacy Annex Circular 343.975

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