2,502 research outputs found
Dynamic pathfinding for a swarm intelligence based UAV control model using particle swarm optimisation
In recent years unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have become smaller, cheaper, and more efficient, enabling the use of multiple autonomous drones where previously a single, human-operated drone would have been used. This likely includes crisis response and search and rescue missions. These systems will need a method of navigating unknown and dynamic environments. Typically, this would require an incremental heuristic search algorithm, however, these algorithms become increasingly computationally and memory intensive as the environment size increases. This paper used two different Swarm Intelligence (SI) algorithms: Particle Swarm Optimisation and Reynolds flocking to propose an overall system for controlling and navigating groups of autonomous drones through unknown and dynamic environments. This paper proposes Particle Swarm Optimisation Pathfinding (PSOP): a dynamic, cooperative algorithm; and, Drone Flock Control (DFC): a modular model for controlling systems of agents, in 3D environments, such that collisions are minimised. Using the Unity game engine, a realtime application, simulation environment, and data collection apparatus were developed and the performances of DFC-controlled dronesânavigating with either the PSOP algorithm or a D* Lite implementationâwere compared. The simulations do not consider UAV dynamics. The drones were tasked with navigating to a given target position in environments of varying size and quantitative data on pathfinding performance, computational and memory performance, and usability were collected. Using this data, the advantages of PSO-based pathfinding were demonstrated. PSOP was shown to be more memory efficient, more successful in the creation of high quality, accurate paths, more usable and as computationally efficient as a typical incremental heuristic search algorithm when used as part of a SI-based drone control model. This study demonstrated the capabilities of SI approaches as a means of controlling multi-agent UAV systems in a simple simulation environment. Future research may look to apply the DFC model, with the PSOP algorithm, to more advanced simulations which considered environment factors like atmospheric pressure and turbulence, or to real-world UAVs in a controlled environment
Not Immune to Mental Health Problems: The Prevalence of Depression and Anxiety in Student-Athletes
Do Different Breeds of Dairy Cow Differ in Their Ability to Digest Perennial Ryegrass?
Grazed grass is the cheapest feed source available for ruminant production systems in temperate climates (Finnernan et al. 2010) accounting for 70% and 90% of the diet of dairy cows in Ireland and New Zealand, respectively. Successful operation of grass-based dairy systems is based on achieving large intakes of high quality grass and efficiently converting it into high value milk solids (Prendiville et al. 2010). Prendiville et al. (2009) identified production efficiency differences between Holstein Friesian (HF) and Jersey (J) cows. They found that J had higher milk solids output per 100 kg bodyweight than HF. The aim of this study was to identify if HF, J and crossbred (JĂHF) cows differ in their ability to digest perennial ryegrass
Influence of amount and percentage of CXCR4-using virus in predicting week 48 responses to maraviroc in treatment-naĂŻve patients
SN 2006bp: Probing the Shock Breakout of a Type II-P Supernova
HET optical spectroscopy and unfiltered ROTSE-III photometry spanning the
first 11 months since explosion of the Type II-P SN 2006bp are presented. Flux
limits from the days before discovery combined with the initial rapid
brightening suggest the supernova was first detected just hours after shock
breakout. Optical spectra obtained about 2 days after breakout exhibit narrow
emission lines corresponding to HeII 4200, HeII 4686, and CIV 5805 in the rest
frame, and these features persist in a second observation obtained 5 hours
later; however, these emission lines are not detected the following night nor
in subsequent observations. We suggest that these lines emanate from material
close to the explosion site, possibly in the outer layers of the progenitor
that have been ionized by the high energy photons released at shock breakout. A
P-Cygni profile is observed around 4450 A in the +2 and +3 day spectra.
Previous studies have attributed this feature to high velocity H-beta, but we
discuss the possibility that this profile is instead due to HeII 4687. Further
HET observations (14 nights in total) covering the spectral evolution across
the photometric plateau up to 73 days after breakout and during the nebular
phase around day +340 are presented, and expansion velocities are derived for
key features. The measured decay slope for the unfiltered light curve is 0.0073
+/- 0.0004 mag/day between days +121 and +335, which is significantly slower
than the decay of rate 56Co. We combine our HET measurements with published
X-ray, UV, and optical data to obtain a quasi-bolometric light curve through
day +60. We see a slow cooling over the first 25 days, but no sign of an early
sharp peak; any such feature from the shock breakout must have lasted less than
~1 day.[ABRIDGED]Comment: ApJ accepted, 43 page
Population and ultra-deep sequencing for tropism determination are correlated with Trofile ES: genotypic re-analysis of the A4001078 maraviroc study
Extraordinary Late-Time Infrared Emission of Type IIn Supernovae
Near-Infrared (NIR) observations are presented for five Type IIn supernovae
(SN 1995N, SN 1997ab, SN 1998S, SN 1999Z, and SN 1999el) that exhibit strong
infrared excesses at late times (t >= 100 d). H- and K-band emission from these
objects is dominated by a continuum that rises toward longer wavelengths. The
data are interpreted as thermal emission from dust, probably situated in a
pre-existing circumstellar nebula. The IR luminosities implied by single
temperature blackbody fits are quite large,> 10^(41 - 42) erg s^-1, and the
emission evolves slowly, lasting for years after maximum light. For SN 1995N,
the integrated energy release via IR dust emission was 0.5 -- 1 * 10^50 erg. A
number of dust heating scenarios are considered, the most likely being an
infrared echo poweredby X-ray and UV emissions from the shock interaction with
a dense circumstellar medium.Comment: 14 Pages, 3 Figures, Accecpted for publication in The Astrophysical
Journa
Hyperpolarized 13 C and 31 P MRS detects differences in cardiac energetics, metabolism, and function in obesity, and responses following treatment
Obesity is associated with important changes in cardiac energetics and function, and an increased risk of adverse cardiovascular outcomes. Multiânuclear MRS and MRI techniques have the potential to provide a comprehensive nonâinvasive assessment of cardiac metabolic perturbation in obesity. A rat model of obesity was created by highâfat diet feeding. This model was characterized using in vivo hyperpolarized [1â13C]pyruvate and [2â13C]pyruvate MRS, echocardiography and perfused heart 31P MRS. Two groups of obese rats were subsequently treated with either caloric restriction or the glucagonâlike peptideâ1 analogue/agonist liraglutide, prior to reassessment. The model recapitulated cardiovascular consequences of human obesity, including mild left ventricular hypertrophy, and diastolic, but not systolic, dysfunction. Hyperpolarized 13C and 31P MRS demonstrated that obesity was associated with reduced myocardial pyruvate dehydrogenase flux, altered cardiac tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle metabolism, and impaired myocardial energetic status (lower phosphocreatine to adenosine triphosphate ratio and impaired cardiac ÎG~ATP). Both caloric restriction and liraglutide treatment were associated with normalization of metabolic changes, alongside improvement in cardiac diastolic function. In this model of obesity, hyperpolarized 13C and 31P MRS demonstrated abnormalities in cardiac metabolism at multiple levels, including myocardial substrate selection, TCA cycle, and highâenergy phosphorus metabolism. Metabolic changes were linked with impairment of diastolic function and were reversed in concert following either caloric restriction or liraglutide treatment. With hyperpolarized 13C and 31P techniques now available for human use, the findings support a role for multiânuclear MRS in the development of new therapies for obesity
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