Vision-Aided Autonomous Landing and Ingress of Micro Aerial Vehicles

Micro aerial vehicles have limited sensor suites and computational power. For reconnaissance tasks and to conserve energy, these systems need the ability to autonomously land at vantage points or enter buildings (ingress). But for autonomous navigation, information is needed to identify and guide the vehicle to the target. Vision algorithms can provide egomotion estimation and target detection using input from cameras that are easy to include in miniature systems

Oxygen ion dynamics in the Earth's ring current: Van Allen probes observations

Oxygen (O+) enhancements in the inner magnetosphere are often observed during geomagnetically active times, such as geomagnetic storms. In this study, we quantitatively examine the difference in ring current dynamics with and without a substantial O+ ion population based on almost 6 years of Van Allen Probes observations. Our results have not only confirmed previous finding of the role of O+ ions to the ring current but also found that abundant O+ ions are always present during large storms when sym-H < -60 nT without exception, whilst having the pressure ratio () between O+ and proton (H+) larger than 0.8 and occasionally even larger than 1 when L < 3. Simultaneously, the pressure anisotropy decreases with decreasing sym-H and increasing L shell. The pressure anisotropy decrease during the storm main phase is likely related to the pitch angle isotropization processes. In addition, we find that increases during the storm main phase and then decreases during the storm recovery phase, suggesting faster buildup and decay of O+ pressure compared to H+ ions, which are probably associated with some species dependent source and/or energization as well as loss processes in the inner magnetosphere.Accepted manuscrip

Onset of efficacy with acute long-acting injectable paliperidone palmitate treatment in markedly to severely ill patients with schizophrenia: post hoc analysis of a randomized, double-blind clinical trial

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>This post hoc analysis (trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00590577) assessed onset of efficacy and tolerability of acute treatment with once-monthly paliperidone palmitate (PP), a long-acting atypical antipsychotic initiated by day 1 and day 8 injections, in a markedly to severely ill schizophrenia population.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Subjects entering the 13-week, double-blind trial were randomized to PP (39, 156, or 234 mg [25, 100, and 150 mg eq of paliperidone, respectively]) or placebo. This subgroup analysis included those with a baseline Clinical Global Impressions-Severity (CGI-S) score indicating marked to severe illness. PP subjects received a 234-mg day 1 injection (deltoid), followed by their assigned dose on day 8 and monthly thereafter (deltoid or gluteal). Thus, data for PP groups were pooled for days 4 and 8. Measures included Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), CGI-S, Personal and Social Performance (PSP), and adverse events (AEs). Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and last-observation-carried-forward (LOCF) methodologies, without multiplicity adjustments, were used to assess changes in continuous measures. Onset of efficacy was defined as the first time point a treatment group showed significant PANSS improvement (assessed days 4, 8, 22, 36, 64, and 92) versus placebo, which was maintained through end point.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A total of 312 subjects met inclusion criterion for this subgroup analysis. After the day 1 injection, mean PANSS total scores improved significantly with PP (all received 234 mg) versus placebo at day 4 (<it>P </it>= 0.012) and day 8 (<it>P </it>= 0.007). After the day 8 injection, a significant PANSS improvement persisted at all subsequent time points in the 234-mg group versus placebo (<it>P </it>< 0.05). PANSS improvements were greater from day 36 through end point in the 156-mg group (<it>P </it>< 0.05) and only at end point in the 39-mg group (<it>P </it>< 0.05). CGI-S and PSP scores improved significantly in the 234-mg and 156-mg PP groups versus placebo at end point (<it>P </it>< 0.05 for both, respectively); improvement in the 39-mg group was not significant. The most common AEs for PP-treated subjects (≥10%, any treatment group) were headache, insomnia, schizophrenia exacerbation, injection site pain, and agitation.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In this markedly to severely ill population, acute treatment with 234 mg PP improved psychotic symptoms compared with placebo by day 4. After subsequent injections, observed improvements are suggestive of a dose-dependent effect. No unexpected tolerability findings were noted.</p

Seeing Through the Blur

Coordinated Science Laboratory was formerly known as Control Systems LaboratoryThis paper addresses the problem of image alignment using models such as affine and homography and by directly using pixel intensity values. Coarse-to-fine scheme has become a standard for direct intensity-based alignment. It is believed that such coarse-to-fine scale sampling (Gaussian blur) can improve region of convergence of the alignment optimization. Although, it has been proposed that such isotropic blur may not be optimal for some motion models, no rigorous derivation for such kernels has been known to date. In this work, we derive kernels for some of the common motion models such as affine and homography, which are able to smooth the alignment objective function. This is appealing because the smoothing process often removes poor local minima and thus reaches deeper solutions. Our derivation shows that these kernels coincide with Gaussian blur of the image only for displacement motion.National Science Foundation / NSF IIS 11-1601

A step into the world of Pakistanis: oral health education for Pakistani adults in Hong Kong

Includes bibliographical references (p. 32).Questionnaire in English and Urdu.published_or_final_versio

Recent Advances in Understanding the Microbiology of the Female Reproductive Tract and the Causes of Premature Birth

Data derived from molecular microbiological investigations of the human vagina have led to the discovery of resident bacterial communities that exhibit marked differences in terms of species composition. All undergo dynamic changes that are likely due to intrinsic host and behavioral factors. Similar types of bacteria have been found in both amniotic fluid and the vagina, suggesting a potential route of colonization. Given that not all of the species involved in intrauterine infections are readily cultivated, it is important that culture-independent methods of analysis must be used to understand the etiology of these infections. Further research is needed to establish whether an ascending pathway from the vagina to the amniotic cavity enables the development of intrauterine infections