AERODYNAMICS AND CONTROL OF A DEPLOYABLE WING UAV FOR AUTONOMOUS FLIGHT

UAV development and usage has increased dramatically in the last 15 years. In this time frame the potential has been realized for deployable UAVs to the extent that a new class of UAV was defined for these systems. Inflatable wing UAVs provide a unique solution for deployable UAVs because they are highly packable (some collapsing to 5-10% of their deployed volume) and have the potential for the incorporation of wing shaping. In this thesis, aerodynamic coefficients and aileron effectiveness were derived from the equations of motion of aircraft as necessary parameters for autonomous flight. A wind tunnel experiment was performed to determine the aerodynamic performance of a bumpy inflatable wing airfoil for comparison with the baseline smooth airfoil from which it was derived. Results showed that the bumpy airfoil has improved aerodynamics over the smooth airfoil at low-Re. The results were also used to create aerodynamic performance curves to supplement results of aerodynamic modeling with a smooth airfoil. A modeling process was then developed to calculate the aileron effectiveness of a wing shaping demonstrator aircraft. Successful autonomous flight tests were then performed with the demonstrator aircraft including in-flight aileron doublets to validate the predicted aileron effectiveness, which matched within 8%

Micro-Raman spectroscopy of chromosomes

Raman spectra of intact chromosomes (Chinese hamster), recorded with a microspectrometer, are reported. The spectra could be assigned to protein and DNA contributions. Protein and DNA conformations and the ratio of base pairs in DNA were determined

Clinical and pre-clinical studies of renal disease in tuberous sclerosis

Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC) is a rare autosomal dominant disease characterized by benign hamartomatous growths in a variety of organs. Renal involvement with angiomyolipomas and/or cysts is common. A subset of patients develops severe polycystic kidney disease in association with contiguous deletion of the TSC2 and PKD1 genes. Little is known about the natural history of the renal disease in this group. The present study had dual aims. The first was to further characterize the TSC2/PKD1 contiguous gene deletion syndrome and to compare renal function and its change over time in these patients with those having mutations affecting TSC2alone. Clinical and renal function data were assimilated on 44 patients with TSC2/PKD1 deletion and 69 patients with TSC2 mutations. Additional genetic analyses were used to more fully characterize the genomic extent and mosaicism of TSC2/PKD1 deletions. In comparison to patients with TSC2 mutations, those with TSC2/PKD1 deletion presented significantly earlier with significantly more advanced chronic kidney disease and lower estimated glomerular function rate and they were more likely to progress to end stage renal disease (P = 0.007). The second aim was to investigate the efficacy of rapamycin, sunitinib, and nelfinavir in the treatment of renal lesions in a Tsc1+/‐ mouse model in which spontaneous renal cysts arise and progress to papillary cyst‐adenomas and to solid adenomas and carcinomas. Compared to controls, rapamycin alone or in combination with sunitinib reduced significantly the number and size of papillary and solid lesions while sunitinib or nelfinivir treatment alone led to a lesser reduction in numbers of solid lesions but no change in overall lesion numbers. Rapamycin, a highly specific inhibitor on mTORC1, appears to hold more promise than the other agents for the treatment of TSC‐associated renal disease

Crossroads: An interdisciplinary study of funeral directors in Indiana

This work is an ethnographic study of funeral directors in Indiana, focusing on the social role they play. Funeral directors, through performances as director and actor, with their living tableaux and focus on the life of the deceased individual, rather than his or her death, offer us the illusion of a modern American ideal—a society with no death. In the face of a great loss, we are reminded how much we depend upon others, which runs contrary to the traditional American concept of the individual. Individualism is so important to us that our funerary ritual, in place for the living, has become a showcase of the deceased’s personality, rather than centering on the needs of the bereaved. An effect of this is that we then struggle to achieve a much needed, visceral connection with our fellow mourners. The funeral director offers us the much needed, shared experience of collective grief in the funeral. And through his production of the funeral, he maintains social solidarity with us by making death the outsider, the ultimate Other. In this way, we are more easily able to process the loss of a loved one without losing our sense of individuality

Crossroads: An interdisciplinary study of funeral directors in Indiana

This work is an ethnographic study of funeral directors in Indiana, focusing on the social role they play. Funeral directors, through performances as director and actor, with their living tableaux and focus on the life of the deceased individual, rather than his or her death, offer us the illusion of a modern American ideal—a society with no death. In the face of a great loss, we are reminded how much we depend upon others, which runs contrary to the traditional American concept of the individual. Individualism is so important to us that our funerary ritual, in place for the living, has become a showcase of the deceased’s personality, rather than centering on the needs of the bereaved. An effect of this is that we then struggle to achieve a much needed, visceral connection with our fellow mourners. The funeral director offers us the much needed, shared experience of collective grief in the funeral. And through his production of the funeral, he maintains social solidarity with us by making death the outsider, the ultimate Other. In this way, we are more easily able to process the loss of a loved one without losing our sense of individuality