Development of Autonomous Optimal Cooperative Control in Relay Rover Configured Small Unmanned Aerial Systems

This thesis documents the research effort to develop, integrate and implement the system hardware and the software necessary to validate the Air Force Institute of Technology\u27s theoretical advances in small unmanned aerial systems (SUAS) cooperative control. The end state objective of the research effort was to flight test an autonomous control algorithm on a communication relay unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that was actively relaying data to and from a rover UAV. The relay UAV is one part of a SUAS designed to utilize cooperative control to extend the effective line-of-sight operating range for a rover UAV. An algorithm is integrated into ground control software that takes telemetry data (the current position of the ground station, rover UAV, and relay UAV) to determine where to navigate the relay aircraft for optimal communication signal strength. The ground station operator flies the rover aircraft in the extended line-of-sight operational envelope just as she/he would in the normal line-of-sight operations. The relay UAV is autonomously routed to the optimal communications relay position. The research yielded a SUAS based on the Ardupilot Mega 2.0. Flight testing demonstrated the SUAS\u27s ability to generate the correct navigation data autonomously; however, the navigation data was not successfully activated as current waypoints on the relay UAV \u27s autopilot. Software in the loop testing was utilized to verify a solution to activate the navigation data but flight testing was not conducted to verify the simulation results

SPECIFICATION AND PROCUREMENT OF CP-5 FUEL TUBES.

Contains the specifications of CP-5 fuel tubes

Targeting the OB-Folds of Replication Protein A with Small Molecules

Replication protein A (RPA) is the main eukaryotic single-strand (ss) DNA-binding protein involved in DNA replication and repair. We have identified and developed two classes of small molecule inhibitors (SMIs) that show in vitro inhibition of the RPA-DNA interaction. We present further characterization of these SMIs with respect to their target binding, mechanism of action, and specificity. Both reversible and irreversible modes of inhibition are observed for the different classes of SMIs with one class found to specifically interact with DNA-binding domains A and B (DBD-A/B) of RPA. In comparison with other oligonucleotide/oligosaccharide binding-fold (OB-fold) containing ssDNA-binding proteins, one class of SMIs displayed specificity for the RPA protein. Together these data demonstrate that the specific targeting of a protein-DNA interaction can be exploited towards interrogating the cellular activity of RPA as well as increasing the efficacy of DNA-damaging chemotherapeutics used in cancer treatment

Complete Genome Sequence of Noncytopathic Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus 1 Contaminating a High-Passage RK-13 Cell Line

A high-passage rabbit kidney RK-13 cell line (HP-RK-13[KY], originally derived from the ATCC CCL-37 cell line) used in certain laboratories worldwide is contaminated with noncytopathic bovine viral diarrhea virus (ncpBVDV). On complete genome sequence analysis, the virus strain was found to belong to BVDV group 1b

How can personal development lead to increased engagement? The roles of meaningfulness and perceived line manager relations

There is an increasing need to understand the psychological processes that link personal development with employee engagement, particularly the boundary conditions at which these occur. The current study sought to meet this need by testing whether perceived opportunities for development are positively associated with job engagement indirectly through the experience of meaningfulness, and whether this indirect relationship is conditional on the level of perceived line manager relations. Questionnaire data was collected from 152 UK workers from a range of occupations and organizations. The results found support for all the hypotheses. In particular, the positive effects of perceived opportunities for development on job engagement (measured one month later) via meaningfulness were only significant for those who perceived that they had a good relationship with their line manager. Thus, there is a need for line managers to develop high quality relationships with their direct reports in order for development practices to translate into positive psychological outcomes. Engagement theory could be advanced by further understanding broaden-and-build and social exchange processes

Downregulation of MicroRNA Eca-Mir-128 in Seminal Exosomes and Enhanced Expression of CXCL16 in the Stallion Reproductive Tract Are Associated with Long-Term Persistence of Equine Arteritis Virus

Equine arteritis virus (EAV) can establish long-term persistent infection in the reproductive tract of stallions and is shed in the semen. Previous studies showed that long-term persistence is associated with a specific allele of the CXCL16 gene (CXCL16S) and that persistent infection is maintained despite the presence of a local inflammatory and humoral and mucosal antibody responses. In this study, we demonstrated that equine seminal exosomes (SEs) are enriched in a small subset of microRNAs (miRNAs). Most importantly, we demonstrated that long-term EAV persistence is associated with the downregulation of an SE-associated miRNA (eca-mir-128) and with an enhanced expression of CXCL16 in the reproductive tract, a putative target of eca-mir-128. The findings presented here suggest that SE eca-mir-128 is implicated in the regulation of the CXCL16/CXCR6 axis in the reproductive tract of persistently infected stallions, a chemokine axis strongly implicated in EAV persistence. This is a novel finding and warrants further investigation to identify its specific mechanism in modulating the CXCL16/CXCR6 axis in the reproductive tract of the EAV long-term carrier stallion

Ultrastrong Light-Matter Coupling in 2D Metal-Chalcogenates

Hybridization of excitons with photons to form hybrid quasiparticles, exciton-polaritons (EPs), has been widely investigated in a range of semiconductor material systems coupled to photonic cavities. Self-hybridization occurs when the semiconductor itself can serve as the photonic cavity medium resulting in strongly-coupled EPs with Rabi splitting energies > 200 meV at room temperatures which recently were observed in layered two-dimensional (2D) excitonic materials. Here, we report an extreme version of this phenomenon, an ultrastrong EP coupling, in a nascent, 2D excitonic system, the metal organic chalcogenate (MOCHA) compound named mithrene. The resulting self-hybridized EPs in mithrene crystals placed on Au substrates show Rabi Splitting in the ultrastrong coupling range (> 600 meV) due to the strong oscillator strength of the excitons concurrent with the large refractive indices of mithrene. We further show bright EP emission at room temperature as well as EP dispersions at low-temperatures. Importantly, we find lower EP emission linewidth narrowing to ~1 nm when mithrene crystals are placed in closed Fabry-Perot cavities. Our results suggest that MOCHA materials are ideal for polaritonics in the deep green-blue part of the spectrum where strong excitonic materials with large optical constants are notably scarce

Allelic Variation in \u3cem\u3eCXCL16\u3c/em\u3e Determines CD3\u3csup\u3e+\u3c/sup\u3e T Lymphocyte Susceptibility to Equine Arteritis Virus Infection and Establishment of Long-Term Carrier State in the Stallion

Equine arteritis virus (EAV) is the causative agent of equine viral arteritis (EVA), a respiratory, systemic, and reproductive disease of horses and other equid species. Following natural infection, 10–70% of the infected stallions can become persistently infected and continue to shed EAV in their semen for periods ranging from several months to life. Recently, we reported that some stallions possess a subpopulation(s) of CD3+ T lymphocytes that are susceptible to in vitro EAV infection and that this phenotypic trait is associated with long-term carrier status following exposure to the virus. In contrast, stallions not possessing the CD3+ T lymphocyte susceptible phenotype are at less risk of becoming long-term virus carriers. A genome wide association study (GWAS) using the Illumina Equine SNP50 chip revealed that the ability of EAV to infect CD3+ T lymphocytes and establish long-term carrier status in stallions correlated with a region within equine chromosome 11. Here we identified the gene and mutations responsible for these phenotypes. Specifically, the work implicated three allelic variants of the equine orthologue of CXCL16 (EqCXCL16) that differ by four non-synonymous nucleotide substitutions (XM_00154756; c.715 A → T, c.801 G → C, c.804 T → A/G, c.810 G → A) within exon 1. This resulted in four amino acid changes with EqCXCL16S (XP_001504806.1) having Phe, His, Ile and Lys as compared to EqCXL16R having Tyr, Asp, Phe, and Glu at 40, 49, 50, and 52, respectively. Two alleles (EqCXCL16Sa, EqCXCL16Sb) encoded identical protein products that correlated strongly with long-term EAV persistence in stallions (P \u3c 0.000001) and are required for in vitro CD3+ T lymphocyte susceptibility to EAV infection. The third (EqCXCL16R) was associated with in vitro CD3+ T lymphocyte resistance to EAV infection and a significantly lower probability for establishment of the long-term carrier state (viral persistence) in the male reproductive tract. EqCXCL16Sa and EqCXCL16Sb exert a dominant mode of inheritance. Most importantly, the protein isoform EqCXCL16S but not EqCXCL16R can function as an EAV cellular receptor. Although both molecules have equal chemoattractant potential, EqCXCL16S has significantly higher scavenger receptor and adhesion properties compared to EqCXCL16R

BiP Binding to the ER-Stress Sensor Ire1 Tunes the Homeostatic Behavior of the Unfolded Protein Response

Computational modeling and experimentation in the unfolded protein response reveals a role for the ER-resident chaperone protein BiP in fine-tuning the system's response dynamics