A conceptual model for city branding based on semiotics

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.Currently change in cities is accelerating intricately and diversely because of technological advances, information floods, increased openness, and the rising standard of living. While city development depended on the activation of urban marketing, a city of importance and recognition is highlighted as one brand. To increase city brand value, it has become necessary to study the brand equity held by cities and to develop a strategy based on a new approach. The main purpose of this thesis is to investigate how a city brand can be developed and through which kind of method. Therefore, the phenomenon of a city was investigated and analysed based on semiotics underpinning the communication of all phenomenon. The purpose of this research was to suggest a new perspective for city branding strategy and to develop a conceptual model for a city branding strategy that is an improvement on the strategies being used by industry and in academia. The proposed perspective is based on semiotics which is the analysis of the interaction between general objects and cultural phenomena. The conceptual model takes elements constituting a city and identifies the core categories comprising branding. From this, it is clear that sustainable city branding is possible, as city assets are developed and brand value is formed. The conceptual model of the city branding process has been positively evaluated through three case studies and five in-depth interviews with experts. The proposed model provides the basis for a city research plan and a tool for the management of the city branding process. The conceptual model offers several advantages as shown below:1. A holistic view of city branding strategy development; 2. A new perspective of city interpretation through semiotics; 3. An understanding of the interaction between city users (residents and visitors) and city with a cognition process and associated image; 4. A clarification of the roles of all component elements within the city branding strategy; 5. An integration of the component elements and core categories for city branding; 6. A new approach to city branding strategy through the conceptual model. Therefore, this research presents a robust theoretical basis for developing a new city branding strategy through the conceptual model

STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION OF BLENDED ASYNCHRONOUS AND SYNCHRONOUS LEARNING IN AN ADVANCED SPANISH CONVERSATION CLASS

This study examines students’ perception of blended asynchronous and synchronous learning in an advanced L2 Spanish conversation course that took place at a major-sized public university in the Unites States as an intensive 5-week summer course during the COVID-19 pandemic. Twenty students participated in a survey, which was comprised with open-ended questions about their overall perception about the online activities and learning, in addition to 51 five-point Likert scale questions about course design, course components, instructor feedback, and peer interactions and rapport. Findings indicate that most of students perceived that they have gained proficiency in speaking, listening, reading and writing, and they felt more comfortable and confident in communicating in Spanish. The activities that students perceived more helpful than others in enhancing communication skills in Spanish were both the semi-guided synchronous, unsupervised group conversations via Zoom and the asynchronous video reports and discussions, while the small group Zoom conversation activity was also perceived as the most enjoyable. Students’ overall positive perceptions and satisfaction about this blended course were achieved through a combination of several factors, such as the clarity of the course design and instructions, the right combination of asynchronous and synchronous online activities that provided students with enriched materials to learn as well as ample opportunities to practice Spanish, the interactions and support with peers that created a sense of learning community and connectedness, and the instructor’s timely and constant feedback, rapport, and social presence to motivate students to learn.   Article visualizations

An Empirical Study on the Attack and Defense of Unmanned Vehicle

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, Network Attack, Cyber-Physical System, SecurityOne of the main applications of the Cyber-Physical System, the Unmanned vehicle is gradually expanding its use. Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), among unmanned vehicle, is used not only for cameras, emergency, and military purposes, but its negative effects are increasing also as its use expands. A terrorist outrage using UAVs in Saudi Arabia in the fall of 2019 is a well-known example. Therefore, research on disabling UAV is also becoming important. The UAV neutralization study can be divided into three phases. First, it is the identification of friend or foe stage that distinguishes whether UAVs are friendly or enemy. However, this step can be omitted in No-drone Zones, such as places where people are concentrated, places where major confidential facilities such as nuclear facilities are located, and places of privacy. The second step is to neutralize the UAV's actual mission. At this stage, the UAV is disabled mainly through network attacks such as jamming attacks and packet injection attacks, or through physical attacks such as nets. The third is a post-processing step to lead the UAV to safe area, that is, to prevent the UAV from flying again and to protect the surroundings from it. Previous UAV neutralization studies have focused on disabling UAV without considering the third phase. In this paper, we focused on the third stage, the post-processing stage, so that UAV can be neutralized. Robot Operating System is useful and used widely in UAV system, but there are also vulnerabilities. Therefore, disabling UAVs using this point and defense techniques are discussed in this paper.YⅠ. INTRODUCTION 1 Ⅱ. BACKGROUND 3 2.1 Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) 3 2.2 Robot Operating System (ROS) 5 Ⅲ. RELATED WORK 6 Ⅳ. PROPOSED METHOD 8 4.1 Proposed attack method 8 4.2 Proposed defense method 14 Ⅴ. SIMULATION RESULT 18 5.1 Experiment environment for attack and defense on UAV simulation 18 5.2 Simulation result for attack on UAV 21 5.3 Simulation result for defense on UAV 25 Ⅵ. CONCLUSION 29 REFERENCES 30 SUMMARY (Korean) 32최근 CPS의 주요 어플리케이션 중 하나인 무인 이동체가 용도를 넓힘에 따라 무인 이동체의 무력화 연구도 중요해지고 있다. 우리는 무인 이동체 중 UAV를 이용하였다. 무인기 무력화 단계는 무인기 피아 식별 단계, 무인기 임무 무력화 단계, 무인기 안전 회수 및 사후 처리단계로 크게 세 단계로 나뉠 수 있다. 그러나 대부분의 연구는 무인기 안전 회수 및 사후 처리단계까지 고려하지 않고 있으며 무인기 임무 무력화 단계에 그치고 있다. 무인기 안전 회수 및 사후 처리단계까지 고려하지 않은 무력화는 일반적으로 추락을 통한 무력화, 호버링을 통한 무력화가 있다. 이는 무력화 단계에서 심각한 재산, 인명 등의 2차 피해를 초래할 수 있다. 본 논문에서는 자율 주행, navigation, 충돌 회피 등의 기능 구현을 위해 무인 이동체에서 일반적으로 사용하는 MAVROS 환경의 취약점을 찾고 그 취약점을 이용하여 공격방법을 제안하였다. 제안하는 공격방법은 추락을 통한 무인기 무력화가 아닌 원하는 지점으로 착륙시키거나 이륙지점으로 돌려보내는 무력화 방법으로 이로 인한 2차피해가 발생하지 않는다. 특히 원하는 지점으로 착륙시키는 공격 방법은 무력화 대상인 UAV를 탈취할 수 있다는 점이 있다. 이러한 취약점을 막기 위해 우리는 또한 보안을 위한 MAVROS API를 제안하였다. 이는 UAV의 상태를 IDLE, LOCK, UNLOCK 세가지 상태로 나누어 동작한다. MAVROS에 새로운 publisher node가 등록될 때 몇 가지 일련의 검사과정을 거치며 사용자가 동적으로 고유번호를 이용하여 상태를 변화시킬 수 있다는 점이 있다. 실험을 통해 공격자의 publisher node 등록을 막음으로써 공격을 막는 것을 확인할 수 있었다.MasterdCollectio

THE EFFECT OF SHOES ON KNEE KINETICS AND ANTERIOR TIBIAL TRANSLATION DURING SINGLE-LEG LANDING

The purpose of this study was to compare how knee kinematics and kinetics are influenced during single-leg landing in shod condition compared to barefoot condition. We hypothesized that the anterior tibial translation (ATT) and utilized coefficient of friction (uCoF) are greater in shod landing. Ten male subjects performed single-leg landing from a 0.3-m-high platform using their self-selected dominant lower limb under shod and barefoot condition. A force plate and a motion capture system were used for measuring ground reaction force and capturing kinematics data, respectively. The shod condition showed a significant higher ATT (p = 0.011) and uCoF (p = 0.022) at 30° flexion than barefoot condition. These findings would be considered as one of evidence that high shoe-surface friction increase ACL injury risks due to high ATT at extended knee position

A conceptual model for city branding based on semiotics

Currently change in cities is accelerating intricately and diversely because of technological advances, information floods, increased openness, and the rising standard of living. While city development depended on the activation of urban marketing, a city of importance and recognition is highlighted as one brand. To increase city brand value, it has become necessary to study the brand equity held by cities and to develop a strategy based on a new approach. The main purpose of this thesis is to investigate how a city brand can be developed and through which kind of method. Therefore, the phenomenon of a city was investigated and analysed based on semiotics underpinning the communication of all phenomenon. The purpose of this research was to suggest a new perspective for city branding strategy and to develop a conceptual model for a city branding strategy that is an improvement on the strategies being used by industry and in academia. The proposed perspective is based on semiotics which is the analysis of the interaction between general objects and cultural phenomena. The conceptual model takes elements constituting a city and identifies the core categories comprising branding. From this, it is clear that sustainable city branding is possible, as city assets are developed and brand value is formed. The conceptual model of the city branding process has been positively evaluated through three case studies and five in-depth interviews with experts. The proposed model provides the basis for a city research plan and a tool for the management of the city branding process. The conceptual model offers several advantages as shown below:1. A holistic view of city branding strategy development; 2. A new perspective of city interpretation through semiotics; 3. An understanding of the interaction between city users (residents and visitors) and city with a cognition process and associated image; 4. A clarification of the roles of all component elements within the city branding strategy; 5. An integration of the component elements and core categories for city branding; 6. A new approach to city branding strategy through the conceptual model. Therefore, this research presents a robust theoretical basis for developing a new city branding strategy through the conceptual model.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Biclustering analysis of transcriptome big data identifies condition-specific microRNA targets

We present a novel approach to identify human microRNA (miRNA) regulatory modules (mRNA targets and relevant cell conditions) by biclustering a large collection of mRNA fold-change data for sequence-specific targets. Bicluster targets were assessed using validated messenger RNA (mRNA) targets and exhibited on an average 17.0% (median 19.4%) improved gain in certainty (sensitivity + specificity). The net gain was further increased up to 32.0% (median 33.4%) by incorporating functional networks of targets. We analyzed cancer-specific biclusters and found that the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway is strongly enriched with targets of a few miRNAs in breast cancer and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Indeed, five independent prognostic miRNAs were identified, and repression of bicluster targets and pathway activity by miR-29 was experimentally validated. In total, 29 898 biclusters for 459 human miRNAs were collected in the BiMIR database where biclusters are searchable for miRNAs, tissues, diseases, keywords and target genes

A Robot Operating System Framework for Secure UAV Communications

To perform advanced operations with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), it is crucial that components other than the existing ones such as flight controller, network devices, and ground control station (GCS) are also used. The inevitable addition of hardware and software to accomplish UAV operations may lead to security vulnerabilities through various vectors. Hence, we propose a security framework in this study to improve the security of an unmanned aerial system (UAS). The proposed framework operates in the robot operating system (ROS) and is designed to focus on sev-eral perspectives, such as overhead arising from additional security elements and security issues essential for flight missions. The UAS is operated in a nonnative and native ROS environment. The performance of the proposed framework in both environments is verified through experiments. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.1

Eficacia antiincrustante de una formulación de pintura de reducción controlada con acetofenona

Biofouling is an inevitable problem that occurs continually on marine fishing vessels and other small crafts. The nature of the antifouling (AF) coatings used to prevent biofouling on these small vessels is of great environmental concern. Therefore, the efficacy of a non-toxic AF candidate, acetophenone, was evaluated in preliminary laboratory assays using marine bacteria, diatom and Ulva spores. At a low concentration of 100 μg cm–2 of acetophenone, spore attachment of a green fouling alga was significantly reduced (p < 0.01). Similarly, 40% acetophenone coatings significantly inhibited diatom attachment. This new non-toxic AF agent was incorporated into controlled depletion paint (CDP). Fouling coverage (%), biomass, and fouling resistance (%) were estimated. On CDP coatings made with acetophenone (40%), a significant decrease in fouling biomass was estimated (p < 0.01).El biofouling es un problema inevitable que ocurre continuamente en los buques de pesca marina y en las pequeñas embarcaciones. La naturaleza de los recubrimientos antiincrustantes (AF) usados para prevenir el bioincrustado en estos pequeños buques tiene gran preocupación ambiental. Por lo tanto, la eficacia de un candidato AF no tóxico, la acetofenona, se evaluó en ensayos preliminares de laboratorio usando bacterias marinas, diatomeas y esporas de Ulva. A una concentración baja de 100 μg cm–2 de acetofenona, la adherencia de esporas de una alga incrustante verde se redujo significativamente (p < 0.01). Del mismo modo, el revestimiento de acetofenona a un nivel del 40% inhibieró significativamente la adherencia de diatomeas. Además, esta nueva acetofenona AF no tóxica se incorporó a la pintura de reducción controlada (CDP). La cobertura de las incrustaciones (%), la biomasa y la resistencia a la incrustación (%) fueron estimadas. En recubrimientos de CDP donde se incorporó la acetofenona (40%), se estimó una disminución significativa de la biomasa incrustante (p < 0.01)

Network-Level Structural Abnormalities of Cerebral Cortex in Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus

Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) usually begins in childhood and adolescence and causes lifelong damage to several major organs including the brain. Despite increasing evidence of T1DM-induced structural deficits in cortical regions implicated in higher cognitive and emotional functions, little is known whether and how the structural connectivity between these regions is altered in the T1DM brain. Using inter-regional covariance of cortical thickness measurements from high-resolution T1-weighted magnetic resonance data, we examined the topological organizations of cortical structural networks in 81 T1DM patients and 38 healthy subjects. We found a relative absence of hierarchically high-level hubs in the prefrontal lobe of T1DM patients, which suggests ineffective top-down control of the prefrontal cortex in T1DM. Furthermore, inter-network connections between the strategic/executive control system and systems subserving other cortical functions including language and mnemonic/emotional processing were also less integrated in T1DM patients than in healthy individuals. The current results provide structural evidence for T1DM-related dysfunctional cortical organization, which specifically underlie the top-down cognitive control of language, memory, and emotion. © 2013 Lyoo et al

Spatial and temporal variabilities of spring Asian dust events and their impacts on chlorophyll-a concentrations in the western North Pacific Ocean

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2017. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geophysical Research Letters 44 (2017): 1474–1482, doi:10.1002/2016GL072124.As the western North Pacific Ocean is located downwind of the source regions for spring Asian dust, it is an ideal location for determining the response of open waters to these events. Spatial analysis of spring Asian dust events from source regions to the western North Pacific, using long-term daily aerosol index data, revealed three different transport pathways supported by the westerly wind system: one passing across the northern East/Japan Sea (40°N–50°N), a second moving over the entire East/Japan Sea (35°N–55°N), and a third flowing predominantly over the Siberian continent (>50°N). Our results indicate that strong spring Asian dust events can increase ocean primary productivity by more than 70% (>2-fold increase in chlorophyll-a concentrations) compared to weak/nondust conditions. Therefore, attention should be paid to the recent downturn in the number of spring Asian dust events and to the response of primary production in the western North Pacific to this change.Korean government (MSIP) Grant Numbers: 2015R1C1A1A01052051, NRF-C1ABA001-2011-0021064; Korea Polar Research Institute (KOPRI) Grant Number: PE17030; NOAA Grant Number: NA11OAR4310063; WHOI2017-08-1