Development of Solid Sampling Modalities for the Liquid-Sampling Atmospheric Pressure Glow Discharge Microplasma

Fast pretreatment of samples, low resource consumption, and high analytical throughput makes direct solid sampling techniques an attractive choice for a wide range of applications. Currently there are a plethora of analytical techniques capable of solid sampling. However, no commercial technique is available that is capable of taking advantage of the key concepts of solid samplings. General disadvantages amongst the current solid sampling instrumentation are high cost of operation, limited analyte choice, and reduced analytical performance. In that regard, it is important to develop a source that has low operation cost as well as the capability to analyze a diversity of analytes. An added benefit would be if the source is comparable in analytical performance to that of solution based instruments. One potential source is the liquid sampling – atmospheric pressure glow discharge (LS-APGD) microplasma that is utilized primarily for solution analysis. The analytical merits of the LS-APGD overlaps with that of direct solid sampling. The LS-APGD provides a multi-faceted approach to analytical instruments by providing a variety of information from a compact ionization/excitation source. Unique amongst the tools in the analytical toolbox, the LS-APGD is capable of not only ionizing elements but also molecular species. Beyond that, the LS-APGD also operate in a total consumption mode, i.e no solvent waste, with solution flow rates under 100 µL min-1 as well as less than 1.0 L min-1 of helium gas flow. These analytical merits of low cost and abundance of information coincide with the key advantages of direct solid sampling. Presented in this dissertation is efforts on adding and improving solid sampling modalities to this ionization/excitation source. The dissertation discusses the influence of plasma parameters on optical emission though ambient desorption as well as the implication of those trends on underlying mechanism. On the sample preparation side, an effective means of preparing residues for analysis via intelligent substrate choice as well as co-adding dopant is provided. Finally, two sampling methods coupled to the LS-APGD is described. A novel solvent extraction method for heat sensitive samples as well as coupling to a laser ablation system for comprehensive atomic, molecular, and spatial analysis

A study of the regulatory role of retinoic acid receptor gamma in Zebrafish development

Retinoic acid (RA) is thought to signal through retinoic acid receptors (RARs), i.e. RARα, β, and γ to play important roles in embryonic development and tissue regeneration. In this thesis, the zebrafish (Danio rario) was used as a vertebrate model organism to examine the role of RARγ. Treatment of zebrafish embryos with a RARγ specific agonist reduced the axial length of developing embryos, associated with reduced somite number and loss of hoxb13a expression. There were no clear alterations in hoxc11a or myoD expression. Treatment with the RARγ agonist disrupted the formation of anterior structures of the head, the cranial bones and the anterior lateral line ganglia, associated with a loss of sox9 immunopositive cells in the same regions. Pectoral fin outgrowth was blocked by treatment with the RARγ agonist; however, this was not associated with loss of tbx5a immunopositive lateral plate cells and was reversed by wash out of the RARγ agonist or co-treatment with a RARγ antagonist. Regeneration of the transected caudal fin was also blocked by RARγ agonist treatment and restored by agonist washout or antagonist co-treatment; this phenotype was associated with a localised reduction in canonical Wnt signalling. Conversely, elevated canonical Wnt signalling after RARγ treatment was seen in other tissues, including ectopically in the notochord. Furthermore, some phenotypes seen in the RARγ treated embryos were present in mutant zebrafish embryos in which canonical Wnt signalling was constitutively increased. These data suggest that RARγ plays an essential role in maintaining neural crest and mesodermal stem/progenitor cells during normal embryonic development and tissue regeneration when the receptor is in its non-ligated state. In addition, this work has provided evidence that the activation status of RARγ may regulate hoxb13a gene expression and canonical Wnt signalling. Further research is required to confirm such novel regulatory roles

A Survey of Access Control Models in Wireless Sensor Networks

Copyright 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have attracted considerable interest in the research community, because of their wide range of applications. However, due to the distributed nature of WSNs and their deployment in remote areas, these networks are vulnerable to numerous security threats that can adversely affect their proper functioning. Resource constraints in sensor nodes mean that security mechanisms with a large overhead of computation and communication are impractical to use in WSNs; security in sensor networks is, therefore, a challenge. Access control is a critical security service that offers the appropriate access privileges to legitimate users and prevents illegitimate users from unauthorized access. However, access control has not received much attention in the context of WSNs. This paper provides an overview of security threats and attacks, outlines the security requirements and presents a state-of-the-art survey on access control models, including a comparison and evaluation based on their characteristics in WSNs. Potential challenging issues for access control schemes in WSNs are also discussed.Peer reviewe

Karen indigenous music and dance learning in an Australian non-formal context: A case study in maintenance and transmission

This study examines the viability of transmission and maintenance of Karen indigenous music and dance in an Australian non-formal context. Qualitative in design, the research comprised an ethnographic case study of an indigenous music and dance transmission situation (a series of five music and dance workshops) implemented in a non-formal community context in Western Sydney. Participants were a Karen cultural expert in music and dance, four Karen teacher participants and 14 Karen youth student participants. The researcher, as performance participant and participant observer, collected the data through field observation and video recording of the workshops, as well as semi-structured interviews that were conducted with the cultural expert, teacher participants, and the student participants. The first of its kind among the Karen community in Australia, the study explored the viability and means of transmission and maintenance of Karen indigenous music and dance through the involvement of Karen culture bearers and Karen youth. The study explored the views of the cultural expert and the various other culture bearers on Karen music and dance teaching and learning processes, as well as the motivation and learning styles of its student participants. Based on understandings of transmission processes operating in Burma and in the Thai-Burma border refugee camps that emerged during the study, the research revealed the need for evolving modified transmission processes for the diasporic context. The study raised many questions and highlighted culturally sensitive issues, ultimately indicating that the symbolic significance of the project as an initiative outweighed the pedagogical outcomes of the actual workshops

An evaluation of break-the-glass access control model for medical data in wireless sensor networks

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) have recently attracted a lot of attention in the research community because it is easy to deploy them in the physical environment and collect and disseminate environmental data from them. The collected data from sensor nodes can vary based on what kind of application is used for WSNs. Data confidentiality and access control to that collected data are the most challenging issues in WSNs because the users are able to access data from the different location via ad-hoc manner. Access control is one of the critical requirements to prevent unauthorised access from users. The current access control models in information systems cannot be applied straightforwardly because of some limitations namely limited energy, resource and memory, and low computation capability. Based on the requirements of WSNs, we proposed the Break-The-Glass Access Control (BTG-AC) model which is the modified and redesigned version of Break-The-Glass Role-Based Access Control (BTG-RBAC) model. The several changes within the access control engine are made in BTG-RBAC to apply and fit in WSNs. We developed the BTG-AC model in Ponder2 package. Also a medical scenario was developed to evaluate the BTG-AC model for medical data in WSNs. In this paper, detail design, implementation phase, evaluation result and policies evaluation for the BTG-AC model are presented. Based on the evaluation result, the BTG-AC model can be used in WSNs after several modifications have been made under Ponder2 Package

Control System for 3D Printable Robotic Hand

Humanoid robotics is a growing area of research due to its potential applications in orthosis and prosthesis for human beings. With the currently available technologies, the most advanced robotic hands used in prosthetics or robotics can cost from $11,000 to$90,000, making it inaccessible to the general population of amputees and robotics hobbyists. Most of the features provided by these expensive technologies are superfluous to many users, creating a great gap in cost and services between users and technology. Using the emerging 3D printing technology, my project is to construct a 3D printed robotic hand that can reproduce as many basic functionalities of the advanced expensive hands, while minimizing the cost. The project involves choosing a feasible 3D printed design plan, assembly of the mechanical and electrical components of the robotic hand, the design and implementation of the software interface for intuitive user control of the hand and ease of integrability to existing robotic systems. This new hand will allow mimicking, versatile gripping, human-recognizable gestures, feedback controlled force exertion, and a ROS integrated software interface. This project will further allow students at Union to extend their research in social robotics and human-computer interface by incorporating the inexpensive robotic han

Foreign direct investment effect on economic growth in ASEAN countries (2002 - 2019)

Thesis(Master) -- KDI School: Master of Development Policy, 2022The determination of our empirical investigation is to study the foreign direct investment (FDI) effect on ASEAN's economic growth utilizing human capital. Moreover, our empirical investigation aims to investigate how FDI interacts with domestic investment, human capital, and trade in developing countries to promote economic growth. The World Bank Indicators is the source of data obtained for the period of year 2002 to 2019 and OLS approach was used to analyze. One of the most important components in the development of a successful economy is human capital. Although FDI has favorable impact on ASEAN economic growth, human capital, domestic investment, and trade don’t have positive effect in ASEAN countries. This research’s conclusive finding is FDI effects on economic growth are independent of the human capital level of the host country. It can be concluded that the higher the quality of a country's human capital, the greater its economic growth and FDI inflows will be.CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION. CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW CHAPTER THREE: DATA AND METHODOLOGY CHAPTER FOUR: EMPIRICAL RESULTS CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION AND POLICY RECOMMENDATIONSmasterpublishedHtet Htet Hto

切欠き材の疲労挙動に及ぼす局所応力比変動の影響

国立大学法人長岡技術科学大

A Proposal of Code Completion Problem for Java Programming Learning Assistant System

To enhance Java programming educations in schools, we have developed a Web-based Java Programming Learning Assistant System (JPLAS) that provides a variety of programming assignments to cover different learning stages. For the first stage, JPLAS offers the element fill-in-blank problem where students study the grammar and code reading through filling the blank elements, composed of reserved words, identifiers, and control symbols, in a high-quality code. Unfortunately, it has been observed that students can fill the blanks without reading the code carefully, because the choice is limited for each blank. In this paper, we propose a code completion problem as a generalization of the element fill-in-blank problem. To solve the drawback, it does not explicitly show blank locations in the code, which expects students to carefully read the code to understand the grammar and code structure. The correctness of the answer is verified through string matching of each statement with the filled elements and the corresponding correct one. Besides, to encourage students to study readable code writing, the correct statement satisfies the coding rules including the spaces. For evaluations, we generated six code completion and element fill-in-blank problems respectively, and asked ten students in two universities to solve them. Their solution results show that the code completion problem is much harder than the element fill-in-blank problem, and requires far deeper code reading and understanding of coding rules