Position location has become one of the more important tasks for improving communication and networking performance for future commercial wireless systems. It is also the enabling technology for many control and sensing applications envisioned by the wireless sensor networks (WSN). Despite its meaningfulness and many algorithms being developed in the past several years, position location in harsh propagation environments remains to be a challenging issue, due mainly to the lack of sufficient infrastructure support and the prominent phenomenon of non-line-of-sight (NLOS) signal propagation. Recently, adopting the concept of collaborative position location has attracted much research interest due to its potential in overcoming the abovementioned two difficulties. In this work, we approach collaborative position location from two different angles. Specifically, we investigate the optimal performance of collaborative position location, which serves as a theoretical performance benchmark. In addition, we developed a computationally efficient algorithm for collaborative position location and incorporated an effective NLOS mitigation method to improve its performance in NLOS-dense environments. Overall, our work provides insight into both theoretical and practical aspects of collaborative position location. / Ph. D.

Success in geotechnical analysis, design, and construction invariably requires that we have proper knowledge and understanding of (1) the strength, (2) the fluid flow properties, and (3) the stress-deformation behavior of the earth materials. These important engineering properties are primarily determined by the components and structure of a soil, which also dictate the soil's responses in an electromagnetic field. As a nondestructive technique, the electromagnetic property measurement offers a promising approach to characterize earth materials and identify the effects of changes in environments. However, despite many investigations in the last several decades, the relationship between the frequency-dependent electromagnetic properties of soils and their components and structure are still not well understood. Hence, estimation of engineering properties of a soil in a quantitative way from electromagnetic measurements can be uncertain. In this research several tasks have been accomplished: (1) Development of a physically based model that provides a means of investigating the coupled effects of important polarization mechanisms on soil electromagnetic properties, and a means of relating the electromagnetic properties of a soil to its fines content, clay mineralogy, anisotropy, degree of flocculation and pore fluid chemistry; (2) Proposal of a practically applicable method to determine the volumetric water content, specific surface area and pore fluid salt concentration simultaneously from the dielectric spectrum; (3) Deduction of the wide-frequency electromagnetic properties of a soil by measuring its responses to a step pulse voltage using time domain reflectometry (TDR); (4) Establishment of the relationships between the specific surface area and compressibility, residual shear strength and hydraulic conductivity. This study establishes a framework for quantifying soil engineering properties from their electromagnetic properties. If properly determined and interpreted, the electromagnetic properties can also provide insights into the causes of soil property changes over time and can be very useful in studying the effects of biological factors in geotechnical engineering, a field that may offer great potential for future advances. / Ph. D.

An architectural idea has been drawn out in a row house on an imaginary site. Architectural drawings in plan, section and elevation, as well as diagrams, sketches and graphite renderings show a process of working that presupposes existential questions as necessary for making architecture. / Master of Architecture

With vast improvements in computing power in the last two decades, humans have invested significantly in engineering resources in an attempt to automate labor intensive or dangerous tasks. A particularly dangerous and labor-intensive task is painting lines on roads for facilitating urban mobility. This thesis proposes an approach to automate the process of painting lines on the ground using an autonomous ground vehicle (AGV) fitted with a stabilized painting mechanism. The AGV accepts Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates for waypoint navigation. A computer vision algorithm is developed to provide vision feedback to stabilize the painting mechanism. The system is demonstrated to follow an input desired trajectory and cancel any high frequency vibrations due to the uneven terrain that the vehicle is traversing. Also, the stabilizing system is able to eliminate the long-term drift (due to inaccurate GPS waypoint navigation) using the complementary vision system. / MS / There is a need to develop an automated system capable of painting lines on the ground with minimal human intervention as the current methods to paint lines on the ground are inefficient, labor intensive, and dangerous. The human input to such a system is limited to the determination of the desired trajectory of the line to be drawn. This thesis presents the design and development of an autonomous line painting system that includes an autonomous ground vehicle (capable of following GPS waypoints) integrated with an automatic line painting mechanism. As the vehicle traverses the ground, it experiences disturbances due to the interaction between the wheels and the ground, and also a long-term drift due to inaccurate tracking of the input GPS coordinates. In order to compensate for these disturbances, a vision system is implemented providing feedback to a stabilizing arm. This automated system is able to demonstrate the capability to follow a square trajectory defined by GPS coordinates while compensating for the disturbances.

Thermoplastic composite filament winding is an on-line consolidation process, where the composite experiences a complex temperature history and undergoes a number of temperature history affected microstructural changes that influence the structure's subsequent properties. These changes include melting, crystallization, void formation, degradation and consolidation. In the present study, models of the thermoplastic filament winding process were developed to identify and understand the relationships between process variables and the structure quality. These include models that describe the heat transfer, consolidation and crystallization processes that occur during fabrication of a filament wound composites structure. A comprehensive thermal model of the thermoplastic filament winding process was developed to calculate the temperature profiles in the composite substrate and the towpreg temperature before entering the nippoint. A two-dimensional finite element heat transfer analysis for the composite-mandrel assembly was formulated in the polar coordinate system, which facilitates the description of the geometry and the boundary conditions. A four-node 'sector element' was used to describe the domain of interest. Sector elements were selected to give a better representation of the curved boundary shape which should improve accuracy with fewer elements compared to a finite element solution in the Cartesian-coordinate system. Hence the computational cost will be reduced. The second thermal analysis was a two-dimensional, Cartesian coordinate, finite element model of the towpreg as it enters the nippoint. The results show that the calculated temperature distribution in the composite substrate compared well with temperature data measured during winding and consolidation. The analysis also agrees with the experimental observation that the melt region is formed on the surface of the incoming towpreg in the nippoint and not on the substrate. Incorporated with the heat transfer analysis were the consolidation and crystallization models. These models were used to calculate the degree of interply bonding and the crystallinity achieved during composite manufacture. Bonding and crystallinity developments during the winding process were investigated using the model. It is concluded that lower winding speed, higher hot-air heater nozzle temperature, and higher substrate preheating temperature yield higher nippoint temperature, better consolidation and a higher degree of crystallization. Complete consolidation and higher matrix crystallization will result in higher interlaminar strength of the wound composite structure. / Master of Science

This work presents a measurement model designed for multiple observers (space-based and/or ground-based) for cislunar orbit determination and estimation for space domain awareness (SDA). The measurement model is able to rely solely on angles-only measurements by defining the line between the observer and the target object as the intersection of two non-parallel planes. There are two primary applications for the measurement model related to cislunar SDA: (1) It provides a new initial orbit determination (IOD) technique that does not require any knowledge of the dynamical environment, and (2) It is adopted into a sequential estimation scheme to provide continuous orbit tracking. The present measurement model is studied and demonstrated for both Earth orbits and cislunar space applications. While the goal is to operate in cislunar space, evaluating the measurement model in Earth orbits allows for the comparison against established IOD and estimation methods, resulting in a more rigorous analysis of the performance. Within this work, several different aspects of the present measurement model are studied, both analytically and computationally, to understand their effect on the orbit determination and estimation problems. By methodically varying the location of the observers, relative to the target, it is shown that the error produced by the IOD solution to the measurement behaves in a predictable manner. The IOD solution model can then be compared against similar IOD methods for Earth orbit. For orbit estimation, the measurement model is used in a modified extended Kalman filter that incorporates Analytic Continuation, allowing it to propagate the perturbed orbit dynamics to increase estimation accuracy. The measurement model is then incorporated in both an extended Kalman filter and unscented Kalman filter, comparing the resulting accuracy and computational time as the measurement frequency and nonlinearity of the dynamics are varied. For cislunar space, the measurement model is used to perform IOD and tracking of objects in orbits with relevance to future space missions. Finally, the present measurement model is shown to be capable of fusing other measurement methods from heterogeneous sensors to perform accurate orbit estimation. Overall, it is shown that the measurement model produces highly accurate results for IOD and orbit estimation. The results of the IOD solution have the same level of accuracy as other Earth orbit IOD methods and is shown to be able to easily translate to cislunar orbits without any modification, while maintaining that accuracy. For orbit estimation, the measurement model is shown to converge to an accurate estimate quickly and maintain that level of accuracy even in the absence of measurements, which is to be expected due to the vastness of cislunar space. The present approach will have future applications in space-based space surveillance networks for on-orbit cislunar SDA operations.

We have investigated the role of the metabotropic glutamate receptor 7 (mGluR7) and the gastrin releasing peptide receptor (Grpr) population that are involved at different levels of itch transmission. We found that mGuR7 deficient mice displayed an anaphylaxis-like behavior when provoked with histamine. Analysis of blood revealed elevated plasma levels of histamine and mouse mast cell protease-1 (mMCP1), two indicators of anaphylaxis, in mGluR7 deficient mice compared with control mice. Inhibition of the neurokinin 1 receptor, by preventing binding of the corresponding ligand substance P (SP), prior to provocation with histamine prevented the development of anaphylaxis in mGluR7 deficient animals. However, blocking GRPR (gastrin releasing peptide receptor) only resulted in decreased itch levels in mGluR7 deficient mice but did not prevent the systemic anaphylaxis-like behavior. Our findings indicate that mGluR7 normally functions as a brake on histaminergic itch that is mediated through GRPR as well as anaphylaxis through Substance P. Grpr has previously been shown to mediate both histaminergic and non-histaminergic itch but little is known about the GRPR neuronal population. We used a BAC cloning strategy to construct a Grpr-Cre line, which we crossed with the reporter lines tdTomato and Viaat-egfp as well as with Vglut2-lox. We could conclude that Grpr-Cre neurons are mainly excitatory interneurons located in lamina II-IV, that convey itch using VGLUT2-mediated glutamatergic transmission to the next, currently unknown, step in the labeled line of chemical itch. To eventually deduce the function of the endogenous opioids dynorphin and enkephalin, which are hypothesized to be involved in gating pain and itch in the spinal cord, we constructed two Cre lines using BAC cloning that targeted the precursor proteins preprodynorphin and preproenkephalin, respectively. Preprodynorphin-Cre neurons were mainly located in lamina II-IV and overlapped to 47% with Vglut2 mRNA, while the co-expression with the inhibitory markers Viaat-egfp and PAX2 was 13% and 28% respectively in the spinal cord. Preproenkephalin neurons were more localized to lamina III in the dorsal horn, furthermore single cell analysis showed that they overlapped to 94% with Vglut2 mRNA while 7% and 13% expressed Viaat-egfp and PAX2 respectively.

Information systems concentrate data in computer files that have the potential to be accessed by large numbers of people in and outside of organisations. While security breaches and damages of information systems still come from organisational insiders, security breaches are increasing, especially in developing countries because organisations are now open to outsiders through the internet. As a result, automated data are more susceptible to error, destruction, fraud and misuse. The banking sector in Zimbabwe has introduced, of late, on-line banking facilities and these are heavily dependent on the use of internet. / The increase in computer crime has led to scepticism about the move made by the banks to introduce on-line banking. Some view this as a noble move which has made the banking system more efficient, reliable and secure, while others view it as a risky and insecure way of banking. The aim of this study was to assess whether on-line banking in the developing countries is secure or not. The researcher chose a descriptive-quantitative research design. Data was collected using a self constructed questionnaire. Convenience sampling and stratified random sampling techniques were used to select the main subjects of the study. Generally on average there was no significant difference between the perceptions of management bank personnel and non-management bank personnel on the security of on-line banking. The study recommends further future studies on the security of on-line banking in developing countries based on the perceptions of the customers themselves, who are using on-line banking services, the Common Criteria for Information Technology Security and also a study of the latent dimensions of on-line banking security as extracted by factor analysis, how they differ from elements of information security as derived from the theoretical framework and literature.

SAMMANFATTNING Bakgrund Medelåldern i Sverige ökar, och så även behovet av avancerad hemsjukvård då många är sjuka eller svårt sjuka sista tiden i livet. Tillgång till avancerad hemsjukvård kommer främja palliativa patienters rätt till autonomi, varför en ständig utveckling är nödvändig. Syfte Att observera PICC-lineinläggning i två olika vårdmiljöer i syfte att upptäcka eventuella likheter och skillnader vad gäller vårdmiljön och patientens upplevelser. Metod Strukturerad icke-deltagande observationsstudie med en deskriptiv design. I de fall det var möjligt utfördes kortare intervjuer med patienten efter PICC-lineinläggningens slutförande. Den insamlade datan analyserades kvalitativt. Resultat Båda observationstillfällen resulterade i en lyckad PICC-lineinläggning. När tekniska svårigheter uppstod vid inläggningen, var det i sjukhusmiljö enkelt att tippa sjukhussängen bakåt för att underlätta införandet, medan det var svårare att utföra samma åtgärd i hemmet. Där fick sjuksköterskorna nöja sig med att ta bort kuddar och lägga patienten helt plant i sängen. Patienten som mottog PICC-line på sjukhuset uttryckte missnöje och besvikelse över bristen på assistans från sjuktransporten till sjukhuset, medan patienten i hemmet uttryckte tacksamhet över att inte behöva åka in till sjukhuset för att få en PICC-line. Det fanns ingen skillnad i teknik eller grad av sterilt utförande. Slutsats Båda patienter genomgick en PICC-lineinläggning med lyckat resultat, och inläggningen kunde utföras enligt samma rutin både i hemmet och på sjukhus. Oförutsedda händelser och komplikationer löstes således, men det är värt att notera att förutsättningarna för att lösa dem skiljde sig i patientens hem jämfört med på sjukhus, främst på grund av skillnader i utbud av extramaterial. Medtagandet av ytterligare material så som en extra PICC-line skulle ytterligare eliminera risken för en misslyckad PICC-lineinläggning i hemmet. Tacksamheten över att inte behöva komma in till sjukhuset var överväldigande hos patienten som fick PICC-line i hemmet, vilket går helt i linje med den svenska vårdens strävan att hjälpa patienter uppnå autonomi. Fortsatt forskning och utveckling skulle kunna innebära att PICC-line inläggning i hemmet kan erbjudas även till patienter som är svårt sjuka men som ännu inte trätt in i ett palliativt skede. Nyckelord PICC-line, hemsjukvård, palliativ vård, autonomi / ABSTRACT Background The average age of Swedish people is rising, and so is the need for advance health care since a lot of people are poorly or very poorly during the last period of their lives. Access to advanced health care will support dying patients right to autonomy. Therefore it is necessary to constantly develop this area. Aim To observe PICC-line insertion in two different environments of care with the aim to discover any possible similarities or differences with regards to the environment of care and experiences of the patient. Method Structured Non-Participant Observational study with a descriptive design. When possible, short interviews were conducted with the patient after the PICC-lineinsertion. The collected data was analysed qualitatively. Results Both observations resulted in a successful PICC-lineinsertion. When technical difficulties occurred during the insertion, it was easy to tip the hospital bed backwards to make the insertion easier, while it was more difficult to perform the same action in the home environment. There the possible measures were reduced to removing pillows and placing the patient completely flat on the bed. The patient who received a PICC-line in the hospital expressed discontent and disappointment over the lack of assistance during the transport to the hospital, while the patient in the home expressed gratitude over not having to go to the hospital to have the PICC-line inserted. Conclusion Both patients went through a PICC-lineinsertion with a successful result, and the insertion could be performed according to the same routine both in the home and the hospital. Unforeseen events and complications were solved, but it’s worth noting that the conditions for solving them differs between the home and hospital environment, mainly due to differences in availability to extra material. To bring extra material, such as an extra PICC- line, would further eliminate risks of an unsuccessful PICC-lineinsertion in the home. The gratitude shown towards not having to come in to the hospital was overwhelming from the patient who received a PICC-line in the home, something that resonates well with the swedish health care systems desire to help patients uphold their autonomy. Continued research and development could mean that PICC-lineinsertion in the home can also be offered to patients who are very sick but have not yet entered the palliative phase. Keywords PICC-line, home care, palliative care, autonomy

This thesis presents a method to obtain the per-unit-length electrical parameters of a given overhead transmission line or underground cable in an unbounded space considering the effect of the ground. This is achieved using a two-dimensional conformal mapping technique, which consists of a modified bilinear transformation to map a semi-open half-space problem into a unit circle. The Helmholtz equations describing the quasi-stationary approximation for the electromagnetic field behaviour are solved using finite element method, with the aid of commonly used commercial software program, COMSOL Multiphysics. The per-unit-length resistance, inductance and capacitance are calculated using the proposed mapping method, the truncation of the original space method and then compared with the analytical solution obtained from Carson's approximation for the overhead lines and Wedepohl's formulation for the underground cables. / October 2016