Mit der Entwicklung der modernen Raumfahrt Mitte der 60er-Jahre des zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts und der Eroberung des Weltraums brach eine neue Epoche der bis dato auf Beobachtungen mit dem Teleskop gestützten planetaren Forschung an. Während des Wettrennens um die technologische Führerschaft im All zur Zeit des Kalten Krieges war das erste Ziel die Entsendung von Satelliten zur Erdbeobachtung, denen aber schon bald Sonden zum Mond und den benachbarten Planeten folgten. Diese Missionen lieferten eine enorme Fülle von Informationen in Form von Bildern und Messergebnissen in unterschiedlichen Datenformaten. Diese galt und gilt es zu strukturieren, zu verwalten, zu aktualisieren und zu interpretieren. Für die Interpretation terrestrischer Daten werden geographische Informationssysteme (GIS) hinzugezogen, die jedoch für planetare Anwendungen aufgrund unterschiedlicher Voraussetzungen nicht ohne weiteres eingesetzt werden können. Daher wurde im Rahmen dieser Arbeit die für die Verwaltung von geographischen Daten der Erdfernerkundung kommerziell erhältliche Software ArcGIS Desktop 9.0 / 9.1 (ESRI) mit eigenen Programmen und Modulen für die Planetenforschung angepasst. Diese ermöglichen die Aufbereitung und den Import planetarer Bild- und Textinformation in die kommerzielle Software. Zusätzlich wurde eine planetare Datenbank zur Speicherung und zentralen Verwaltung der Informationen aufgebaut. Die im Rahmen dieser Arbeit entwickelten Softwarekomponenten ermöglichen die schnelle und benutzerfreundliche Aufbereitung der in der Datenbank gehaltenen Informationen und das Auslesen in Dateiformate, die für geographische Informationssysteme geeignet sind. Des Weiteren wurde eine „Werkzeugleiste“ für ArcGIS entwickelt, die das Arbeiten mit planetaren Datensätzen beträchtlich beschleunigt und vereinfacht. Sie beinhaltet auch Module zur wissenschaftlichen Interpretation der planetaren Informationen, wie beispielsweise der Berechnung der Oberflächenrauigkeit der Marsoberfläche inklusive der flächendeckenden Kalibrierung der Eingangs-Basisdaten. Exemplarisch konnte gezeigt werden, dass das Verfahren eine verbesserte Berechnung der Oberflächenrauigkeit ermöglicht, als bisher angewandte Ansätze. Zudem wurde eine auf ArcGIS basierende Prozesskette zur Berechnung von hierarchischen Flussnetzen entwickelt und erprobt. Das terrestrische Beispiel, die Analyse eines Abflusssystems auf Island, zeigte eine sehr große Übereinstimmung der errechneten Gewässernetze mit den morphologischen Gegebenheiten vor Ort. Daraus ließ sich eine hohe Genauigkeit der mit demselben Ansatz errechneten Gewässernetze auf dem Mars ableiten. Auf der Grundlage der in dieser Arbeit entwickelten Programme und Module lassen sich auch Daten zukünftiger Missionen aufbereiten und in ein solches System einbinden, um diese mit eigenen Ansätzen zu verwalten, zu aktualisieren und für neue wissenschaftliche Fragestellungen perfekt anzupassen, einzusetzen und zu präsentieren, um so neue wissenschaftliche Erkenntnisse in der Planetenforschung zu gewinnen. / After previously only telescopic observations, a new era of planetary research started in the middle of the 60s with the emergence of modern spaceflights and the conquest of the outer space. During the Cold War, there was a period of conflict and competition between the United States and the Soviet Union for technological leadership in the outer space, the aim being to lift satellites into space for observing the Earth. Later, satellites followed for the exploration of the moon and our neighboring planets. These missions generated a huge amount of technical results and images having diverse data formats. This information needs to be structured, administrated, updated and interpreted. The geographic information system (GIS) is a tool for management and analysis of terrestrial data but has limits for planetary applications. Therefore we implemented modules and computer programs into the commercially available software ArcGIS Desktop 9.0 / 9.1 (ESRI), used for the administration of spatial information in terrestrial remote sensing, providing tools for planetary research. These supplements allow the processing and import of planetary text and visual information into this commercial software. Furthermore a planetary database was established allowing storage and central administration of information. The software developed during this thesis enables the user fast and easy processing of data stored in the database and readout in data formats applicable for geographic information systems. Moreover a toolbar was developed for ArcGIS that enhances and simplifies dealing with planetary datasets. This toolbar contains modules for the scientific interpretation of planetary information as for example tools for the calculation of the surface roughness of the planet mars including area-wide calibration of the basic data. As an example, it is shown in this thesis that this procedure allows a more accurate calculation of the surface roughness than approaches used so far. Furthermore a workflow based on ArcGIS was generated and tested for the calculation of hierarchical drainage networks. A terrestrial example based on a dataset from Iceland shows a high concordance between the computer-generated drainage network and the real morphological situation. This tool allows the calculation of drainage networks with high accuracy on Mars. The programs and modules developed in this thesis provide the basis for processing and structuring datasets generated in future space missions. This planetary information and analysis system allows administration, updating, and adaptation to scientific questions and the presentation of data leading thereby to new insights in the planetary research.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2003. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 136-139). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2003. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 136-139). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M.B.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1985.

Thesis (M. App. Sc.)--Carleton University, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 143-156). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (M.B.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1985. / Also available in print.

O foco central desse trabalho é a utilização e aprimoramento de um framework Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCI Express®) para a comunicação de dados em um Espectrômetro Digital de Ressonância Magnética (Digital Magnetic Resonance Spectrometer – DMRS) utilizando o conceito de Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). Esse trabalho foi desenvolvido para servir como base de comunicação para o Espectrômetro Digital de Ressonância Magnética do Centro de Imagens e Espectroscopia in vivo por Ressonância Magnética (CIERMag) devido ao requerimento de altas taxas de transferência dos dados adquiridos. A integração dessa nova comunicação, entre o software e o hardware do espectrômetro, mantém compatibilidade com as interfaces já existentes possibilitando a execução de todas as sequências desenvolvidas sem nenhuma alteração. A incorporação da comunicação PCI Express provê uma solução com um número menor de etapas por transferência em comparação com a comunicação Ethernet. Com isso é possível aumentar o desempenho do sistema e obter taxas de transferência mais elevadas. Para isso, foram feitas mudanças no hardware de forma a torná-lo mais eficiente, reduzindo o número de ciclos de clock por operação e também a quantidade de lógica sintetizada. Além disso, a latência do software durante as transferências também foi reduzida através da utilização de interrupções Message Signaled Interrupt (MSI) e do método Scatter and Gather usado para reduzir a quantidade de cópias de dados na memória principal do computador. Dessa forma, obteve-se, como resultados reais, uma taxa de transferência efetiva (throughput) de 97% do valor máximo da banda possível do barramento PCI Express. / The central focus of this work is the implementation and use of a Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCI Express®) framework for data communication on a Digital Magnetic Resonance Spectrometer (DMRS) using the concept of Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). This work is being developed to serve as a communication basis for the magnetic resonance Digital Spectrometer of the Centro de Imagens e Espectroscopia in vivo por Ressonância Magnética (CIERMag) due to demand of high transfer rates of acquired data. The integration of this new communication, between spectrometer software and hardware, keeps compatibility with existing interfaces, making it possible to execute all developed magnetic resonance sequences without any change. The incorporation of PCI Express communication provides solution with a lower number of steps per transfer when compared to Ethernet communication. By this means it\'s possible to increase system performance and, as result, have higher transfer rates. To accomplish that, the number of clock cycles per operation was reduced, so was the synthesized logic. Furthermore, software latency for data transfer was also reduced consequence of MSI interruption implementation and the use of Scatter and Gather method to remove data movement across the computer main memory. Therefore, it was obtained, as measured real result, a throughput value of 97% the theoretical maximum value for the hardware.

Historically, studying the Martian ionosphere has been difficult due to the lack of dedicated instruments for electron density measurements in the orbit of Mars. However, since 2005, radio occultation measurements have been supplemented by Mars Express MARSIS remote sounder data and, more recently, by data from the MAVEN LPW Langmuir probe since 2014. The ionosphere of Mars is an interesting system, because Mars as one of the two solar system planetary bodies without an intrinsic magnetic field has highly localised crustal magnetic fields. The Chapman model describes the main layer of the ionosphere surprisingly well. Nevertheless, the crustal magnetic fields and other parameters potentially influence the ionosphere formation and topology. Combining the recent vast electron density data set, the Mars Global Surveyor crustal magnetic field map, and F10.7 solar radio flux measurements carried out at the Earth, a detailed study of the influence of these parameters can be conducted. To study the influence of these parameters as well as solar zenith angle on electron densities in the Martian ionosphere, we study magnitude of deviations from the established Chapman model. Furthermore, we use the Kolmogorov's 5/3 power law to investigate a possible dependence of its parameters characterising power and dissipation...

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1966 L675 / Master of Science

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Entomology / Larry L. Buschman / Kun Yan Zhu / Genomic information for lepidopteran insects, particularly agricultural pest species, is very limited but urgently needed due to their economic importance and biodiversity. The huge economic losses ($ 1-2 billons / year) caused by the European corn borer (Ostrinia nubilalis, Hübner, ECB) makes this insect species one of the major pests of corn in the United States and western world. Management of ECB by conventional methods is limited but has had a great success by transgenic Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) corn, which targets insect gut. However, the widespread use of Bt corn may lead to the development of Bt resistance in ECB. Knowledge of genes expressed in the insect gut is considered crucial for understanding basic physiology of food digestion, their interactions with Bt toxins and pathogens, and for discovering new targets for pest management. A large database of 15,000 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) was established from the ECB larval gut. To our knowledge, this database represents the largest gut-specific EST database from a lepidopteran pest. Analysis of 10 aminopeptidase-like genes between Cry1Ab–resistant and –susceptible ECB larvae revealed that aminopeptidase P-like (OnAPP) gene is a strong candidate for its role in Bt toxicity and resistance. The RNA interference mediated reduction in the transcript level of OnAPP gene in ECB larvae resulted in their reduced susceptibily to Cry1Ab. Analysis of the chitinase-like gene (OnCht) revealed its essential role in regulating chitin content of peritrophic membrane (PM). Our results suggest that OnCht may influence food digestion, nutrient absorption or movement of digestive enzymes through the PM and can be an important target for insect management. We also identified and characterized six genes involved in the innate immune defense response in ECB and showed that the expression of these genes were induced when challenged with bacteria. In addition to these results, this research generated significant genomic information for the development of microarray from the larval gut of ECB. The establishment of the feeding-based RNA interference technique could potentially help in delivering dsRNA orally to ECB for high throughput screening of effective genes to be targeted for insect pest management.