Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) involves having to enter and explore partially collapsed buildings in search for victims trapped by the collapse. There are many hazards in doing this, because of the possibility of additional collapses, explosions, fires, or flooding of the area being searched. The use of robots for USAR would increase the safety of the operation for the humans involved, and make the operation faster, because the robots could penetrate areas inaccessible to human beings. Teleoperated robots have been deployed in USAR situations to explore confined spaces in the collapsed buildings and send back images of the interior to rescuers. These deployments have resulted in the identification of several problems found during the operation of these robots. This thesis addresses a problem that has been encountered repeatedly in these robots: the determination of the scale of unrecognizable objects in the camera views from the robot. A procedure that would allow the extraction of size using a laser pointer mounted on the robot's camera is described, and an experimental setup and results that verify this procedure have been shown. Finally, ways to extend the procedure have been explored

No description available.

In cases involving the rescue of people in need of immediate medical care, it is often thought that the responsibility to save the lives of the imperilled falls to advanced professionals, such as paramedics, doctors, nurses, etc. This tells only part of the story, however, as in many cases the first point of contact for a person under duress is non-professional bystanders – average people with often little to no training in first aid or medicine. If the first point of contact is the bystander, do these bystanders have an obligation to help? Even if we assume that it is good to help people in need, the answer is not immediately obvious. Matters become more complicated when the bystander does have training that would make their intervention efficacious in helping the victim. Are they expected to help because they are trained and could presumably help more? This thesis seeks to examine this question and argue the following two conclusions: first, in terms of rescue cases, trained bystanders, whom I call informed rescuers, are morally required to act because of their training; and second, given the special role of knowledge in rescue, those who do not possess training in first aid can be held morally blameworthy for failing to know how to act in rescue cases. Because of this, everyone ought to learn basic first aid.

Anion Exchanger 1, AE1, is a membrane glycoprotein that functions as a dimer in the red blood cells (RBC) as well the kidney. It functions to exchange Cl- for HCO3- in an electroneutral manner, with the RBC AE1 having an additional function in maintaining its biconcave shape. Mutations in AE1 can cause Hereditary Spherocytosis (HS) and distal Renal Tubular Acidosis (dRTA). A mutation, C479W, has been discovered in Edmonton that caused the rare incidence of HS and dRTA in young patient who is heterozygous for C479W and G701D, a recessive dRTA mutation. Expression in MDCK cells has demonstrated that C479W AE1 is retained intracellularly, is misfolded, but can dimerize. C479W AE1s trafficking to the plasma membrane is not rescued by interaction with WT protein, or the small molecules glycerol and DMSO, or by reduced temperature. C479W AE1 also has an increased interaction with the ER chaperone protein, Calnexin.

Thesis (Master)--İzmir Institute of Technology, İzmir, 2006. / Keywords: Robot design, mechanical applications, rescue, mapping, search robot, rescue robot. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 65-66).

The notion of the moratorium on legal proceedings against a financially distressed company undergoing business rescue is internationally recognized as a legal intervention necessary for allowing a breathing space for a company to be rescued. In South Africa, section 133 of the 2008 Companies Act makes provision for moratorium and details its main objectives in as far as business rescue is concerned. The main objective of the moratorium is to give effect to the purposes of the Act as enshrined in section 7 of the 2008 Companies Act. In particular, the moratorium is imposed to provide the company the required opportunity to breathe or the necessary period of respite in order to reorganise its affairs in a way as would allow it to operate on profitable basis without the unnecessary disruptions arising from the enforcement of the creditors’ claims and legal action taken against it whilst trying to reorganise its affairs. While this purpose is obviously a reasonable one, the rights of third parties to enforce their rights in a form of enforcement actions and legal proceedings against the subject company are seriously affected by moratorium. This dissertation aims at discussing and analysing the provisions in the Act relating to moratorium; to discuss and evaluate the impact that moratorium as provided for in section 133 of the Companies Act of 2008 has on the interests of creditors; as well as to compare the South African company law position in r the moratorium with that of Australian company law. / Mini Dissertation (LLM (Corporate Law))--University of Pretoria, 2020. / Mercantile Law / LLM (Corporate Law) / Unrestricted

This thesis discusses a system that allows an operator to use two unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to search an area. Prior work accomplished this in separate survey and search missions, and this work combines those two missions into one. The user conducts a search by selecting an area to survey, and the first drone flies above it, providing up to date information about the area. Points of interest (POI) are then marked by the user and investigated by the second drone. This system assumes a static and known obstacle map, and segmenting the environment during the missions leaves potential for future work. Both drones are equipped with cameras that stream video for the user to observe. A custom graphical user interface (GUI) was created to allow for the drones to be controlled. In addition to marking a search area and POI, the user can pause the drone and delete or add new POI to change the mission mid-flight. Both drones are commanded remotely by a ground station (GCS), leaving only low-level control to the onboard computers. This ground station uses a nearest neighbor solution to the travelling salesman problem and a wavefront path planner to create a path for the low altitude drone. The software architecture is based on the Robot Operating System (ROS), and the GCS uses the MAVLink messaging protocol to communicate with the drones. In addition to the system design, this paper discusses UAV human interaction and how it is applied to this system. / Master of Science / This thesis discusses a system that allows an operator to use two drones to search an area. Prior work accomplished this in separate survey and search missions, and this work combines those two missions into one. The user conducts a search by selecting an area to survey, and the first drone flies above it, providing up to date information about the area. Points of interest (POI) are then marked by the user and investigated by the second drone. This system assumes that obstacles in the environment are static and already known. Both drones are equipped with cameras that stream video for the user to observe. A custom graphical user interface (GUI) was created to allow for the drones to be controlled. In addition to providing the initial mission for the drones, the user can also change the mission mid-flight. Both drones are commanded remotely by a separate computer, leaving only very basic control to the drones. This ground station uses a simple path planner to create a path for the low altitude drone to avoid obstacles. The software architecture is based on the Robot Operating System (ROS), and the GCS uses the MAVLink messaging protocol to communicate with the drones. In addition to the system design, this UAV human interaction and how it is applied to this system.

Title: Development and current status of the Rescue Unit of the Czech Republic Fire Rescue Service within the scope of its missions and further activities analysis. Objective: The objective of this work is the brief description of the development, organisation structure, force and resources and targets of military rescue units and of Rescue Unit of the Czech Republic Fire Rescue Service as their ancestor, all from their origin up to the present day. Furthermore, missions and further activities analysis of Rescue Unit of the Czech Republic Fire Rescue Service with outline of future possible development. Methods: Diploma work in a theoretical style is focused on the search of available study sources, its background research, collection of publications, articles, conceptual materials, statistic analytical works and other written and electronic records connected to the history of army rescue units and information regarding the present day activity of Rescue Unit of the Czech Republic Fire Rescue Service within the scope of its missions and further activities analysis. Results: Result of the diploma work is a complete overview of the development and activities of the military rescue units and of the Rescue Unit of the Czech Republic Fire Rescue Service since their origin up to present day....

The work follows the establishment, the history and the present of the mountain rescue service in the territory of the Czech Republic and Czechoslovakia in the particular historical periods. It focuses on the conditions under which the mountain rescue service was established. It compares particular regions regarding selected indicators (e.g., the number and structure of its members, the membership conditions, the type of interventions, the intervention intensity, the size of the territory, the number of rescue stations, etc.). The work also deals with the functioning and the quality of the cross-border cooperation in various areas. Key words: Mountain rescue, mountain rescue service organisation, the members of the mountain rescue service, areas, districts, interventions, station, equipment

The topic of this master’s thesis is design of rescue vehicle, more specifically medical rescue vehicle in the category C intended for immediate medical assistance and subsequent transport. The main aim of this design is to create object fulfilling the ergonomic, technical and esthetic requirements.