On Correcting Errors in Existing Mathematical Approaches for UAV Trajectory Design Considering No-Fly-Zones

Motivated by the fact that current mathematical methods for the trajectory design of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) considering no-fly-zones (NFZs) cannot perfectly avoid NFZs throughout the entire continuous trajectory, this study introduces a new constraint that ensures the complete avoidance of NFZs. Moreover, we provide mathematical proof demonstrating that a UAV operating within the proposed constraints will never violate NFZs. Under the proposed constraint on NFZs, we aim to optimize the scheduling, transmit power, length of the time slot, and the trajectory of the UAV to maximize the minimum throughput among ground nodes without violating NFZs. To find the optimal UAV strategy from the non-convex optimization problem formulated here, we use various optimization techniques, in this case quadratic transform, successive convex approximation, and the block coordinate descent algorithm. Simulation results confirm that the proposed constraint prevents NFZs from being violated over the entire trajectory in any scenario. Furthermore, the proposed scheme shows significantly higher throughput than the baseline scheme using the traditional NFZ constraint by achieving a zero outage probability due to NFZ violations.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure

The Relationship Between Urban Sprawl and Disaster Resilience: An Exploratory Study

In the wake of ever increasing numbers of natural disasters around the world, further exacerbated by climate change and our growing alarm and vulnerability to them, the notion of resilience has become an important topic within disaster research. Studies have shown an important influence of the built environment, such as urban sprawl, on disaster resilience. This study is an attempt to address the growing danger we face from natural disasters, by examining the role of urban sprawl with respect to community resilience. It identifies indicators and measurements of urban sprawl and disaster resilience with the goal of deriving relationship between the two. Furthermore, the study inquires whether such a relationship varies across different regions in the United States. Using the data from 994 counties in the United States, this study examines associations between urban sprawl and disaster resilience, using correlation analyses (i.e. Pearson’s R, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and regression analysis) The result shows a negative relationship between urban sprawl and disaster resilience, which means that disaster resilience is higher in counties with more compact development patterns. Also, the Northeast region was shown to have a stronger relationship than the West, suggesting that the relationship between urban sprawl and disaster resilience varies across regions

Roles of 17-AAG-induced molecular chaperones and Rma1 E3 ubiquitin ligase in folding and degradation of Pendrin

AbstractPendrin is a transmembrane chloride/anion exchanger highly expressed in thyroid, kidney, and inner ear. Endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-retention of improperly folded Pendrin mutants is considered as the major cause for Pendred syndrome. However, the folding and degradation mechanisms of Pendrin are poorly understood. Here, we report that treatment of 17-AAG, an Hsp90 inhibitor, facilitates the folding of Pendrin through heat shock transcription factor 1 (Hsf1)-dependent induction of molecular chaperones. Furthermore, we demonstrate that Rma1, an E3 ubiquitin ligase localized in the ER membrane, is involved in Pendrin degradation

Enabling Hard Constraints in Differentiable Neural Network and Accelerator Co-Exploration

Co-exploration of an optimal neural architecture and its hardware accelerator is an approach of rising interest which addresses the computational cost problem, especially in low-profile systems. The large co-exploration space is often handled by adopting the idea of differentiable neural architecture search. However, despite the superior search efficiency of the differentiable co-exploration, it faces a critical challenge of not being able to systematically satisfy hard constraints such as frame rate. To handle the hard constraint problem of differentiable co-exploration, we propose HDX, which searches for hard-constrained solutions without compromising the global design objectives. By manipulating the gradients in the interest of the given hard constraint, high-quality solutions satisfying the constraint can be obtained.Comment: publisehd at DAC'2

Identification of a novel antiapoptotic protein that antagonizes ASK1 and CAD activities

Diverse stimuli initiate the activation of apoptotic signaling pathways that often causes nuclear DNA fragmentation. Here, we report a new antiapoptotic protein, a caspase-activated DNase (CAD) inhibitor that interacts with ASK1 (CIIA). CIIA, by binding to apoptosis signal-regulating kinase 1 (ASK1), inhibits oligomerization-induced ASK1 activation. CIIA also associates with CAD and inhibits the nuclease activity of CAD without affecting caspase-3–mediated ICAD cleavage. Overexpressed CIIA reduces H2O2- and tumor necrosis factor-α–induced apoptosis. CIIA antisense oligonucleotides, which abolish expression of endogenous CIIA in murine L929 cells, block the inhibitory effect of CIIA on ASK1 activation, deoxyribonucleic acid fragmentation, and apoptosis. These findings suggest that CIIA is an endogenous antagonist of both ASK1- and CAD-mediated signaling

South College District Redevelopment Plan, Bryan, TX

The site, South College Corridor District, is located between the boarder of the city of Bryan and College Station where Texas A&M University is placed. South College Corridor has been served as a major throughfare to connect Texas A&M University and Downtown Bryan. In 1910, the City built a trolley system along South College Avenue.Along with the growth of Texas A&M University and its expansion toward Texas Avenue, TX6, and University Avenue, South College Avenue has lost much of its glory as a destination point. The district has been mainly developed for single family housing units, mobile homes, and few restaurants and bars. However, recent private development projects with mixed-use buildings and apartment complexes nearby will change the topography of this area. To provide a big picture and guide future development in this area, students were created redevelopment plans for several parts of the whole community.Texas A&M University, Texas Target Communities, Yunmi Par

Liberty County Strategic Plan 2016 - 2036

In the fall of 2015, the County of Liberty and Texas Target Communities partnered to create a task force to represent the community. The task force was integral to the planning process, contributing the thoughts, desires, and opinions of community members—as well as their enthusiasm about Liberty’s future. This fourteen-month planning process ended in August 2016. The result of this collaboration is the County of Liberty Strategic Plan, which is the official policy guide for the community’s growth over the next twenty years.Liberty Strategic Plan 2036 provides a guide for the future growth of the county. This document was developed by Texas Target Communities in partnership with the County of Liberty

New Era of Air Quality Monitoring from Space: Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS)

GEMS will monitor air quality over Asia at unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution from GEO for the first time, providing column measurements of aerosol, ozone and their precursors (nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide and formaldehyde). Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS) is scheduled for launch in late 2019 - early 2020 to monitor Air Quality (AQ) at an unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution from a Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) for the first time. With the development of UV-visible spectrometers at sub-nm spectral resolution and sophisticated retrieval algorithms, estimates of the column amounts of atmospheric pollutants (O3, NO2, SO2, HCHO, CHOCHO and aerosols) can be obtained. To date, all the UV-visible satellite missions monitoring air quality have been in Low Earth orbit (LEO), allowing one to two observations per day. With UV-visible instruments on GEO platforms, the diurnal variations of these pollutants can now be determined. Details of the GEMS mission are presented, including instrumentation, scientific algorithms, predicted performance, and applications for air quality forecasts through data assimilation. GEMS will be onboard the GEO-KOMPSAT-2 satellite series, which also hosts the Advanced Meteorological Imager (AMI) and Geostationary Ocean Color Imager (GOCI)-2. These three instruments will provide synergistic science products to better understand air quality, meteorology, the long-range transport of air pollutants, emission source distributions, and chemical processes. Faster sampling rates at higher spatial resolution will increase the probability of finding cloud-free pixels, leading to more observations of aerosols and trace gases than is possible from LEO. GEMS will be joined by NASA's TEMPO and ESA's Sentinel-4 to form a GEO AQ satellite constellation in early 2020s, coordinated by the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS)

Urban Landscape Design for Improving Thermal Environments and Protecting Human Health

Heat-related health problems, especially in urban areas, are becoming increasingly important due to global climate change (GCC) and urban heat island intensification (UHII). To address these problems, it is important to know how urban landscape design plays a role in urban thermal environments and human health. The comprehensive goal of this study is to understand the multiplicity of heat-related health associated with neighborhood environmental characteristics. This dissertation contains three independent studies, including one systematic review and two empirical studies at the macro-scale (neighborhood-level) and micro-scale (street-level). The first study conducted a systematic review on the impacts of urban landscape characteristic (ULC) on heat-related health. According to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 22 studies were selected. The results showed that ULC has positive or negative effects on heat-related health, and appropriate urban landscape design strategies for heat vulnerable areas can mitigate the negative effects of thermal environment on human health. The second study analyzed the impact of urban landscape and sociodemographic characteristics on heat-related health using 27,807 heat-related emergency medical service (EMS) incidents data from 2016-2020, in Cincinnati (Ohio, US). The results showed that heat-related health incidents have been decreased in block groups with high green areas or a low percentage of impervious surfaces. The effect of these variables has increased with increasing temperature. Also, socially vulnerable groups were more vulnerable to heat-related health. The third study developed the ground ratio factor (GRF) model to estimate the different terrestrial radiation according to different ground conditions. Three types of ground materials, including asphalt, concrete, and grass, were considered. Field measurements were conducted during the hot season (July 13 to September 19, 2020). The model was validated by comparing the predicated terrestrial radiation (PTR) from the model with the actual terrestrial radiation (ATR). Through the GRF model, different terrestrial radiation was measured depending on different ground conditions, which can be utilized to improve existing energy budget models. In conclusion, the findings of this dissertation provide new insights into the urban landscape design strategies and foundation of knowledge for local interventions for improving thermal environments and protecting human health. Therefore, efforts to address heat-related problems should be considered continuously by landscape designers, urban planners, and policymakers, especially for vulnerable groups