Forward Vehicle Collision Warning Based on Quick Camera Calibration

Forward Vehicle Collision Warning (FCW) is one of the most important functions for autonomous vehicles. In this procedure, vehicle detection and distance measurement are core components, requiring accurate localization and estimation. In this paper, we propose a simple but efficient forward vehicle collision warning framework by aggregating monocular distance measurement and precise vehicle detection. In order to obtain forward vehicle distance, a quick camera calibration method which only needs three physical points to calibrate related camera parameters is utilized. As for the forward vehicle detection, a multi-scale detection algorithm that regards the result of calibration as distance priori is proposed to improve the precision. Intensive experiments are conducted in our established real scene dataset and the results have demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed framework

Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationABSTRACT RNA interference (RNAi) is a powerful tool to knock down specific message RNA expression levels in cells by exploiting a natural intracellular regulatory phenomenon in mammalian species. Gene silencing using short interfering RNAs (siRNAs) has many potential therapeutic applications. Local or topical siRNA therapeutics have been most actively investigated. Osteoporosis is rapidly becoming a global healthcare crisis worldwide. Most osteoporotic fractures require surgical intervention, reduction and stabilization, and various fixation devices areused as implants to improve fracture healing, necessitating the development of new treatment options for this condition. After orthopedic fixation device implantation, large numbers of osteoclastprecursors recruited into the peri-implant tissue can rapidly differentiate into osteoclasts which accelerate bone loss and cause aseptic loosening and finally prosthetic failure. Injectable bone cements are clinically used to improve mechanical properties to improve fixation as bone augmentation biomaterials in osteoporosis, with several FDA-approved calcium phosphate cements (CPC) products in clinical use. Compared to nondegradable polymethylmethacrylate bone cement, CPC has several unique properties for bone, including intrinsic osteoconductivity, osteoinductivity and acceptable biocompatibility. Significantly, calcium-based bone cements in bone augmentation use provide a potential depot for local drug delivery directly to bone sites in osteoporosis. The objective of this dissertation research was to investigate a new strategy to deliver siRNA locally to bone to inhibit osteoclast formation and function in improving osteoporotic bone healing. Our initial siRNA delivery data showed successful use of siRNA against receptor activator of nuclear factor-kappa B (RANK) and farnesyl pyrophosphate synthase (FPPS), resulting in knockdown of RANK in both osteoclast precursor and osteoclast cultures and knockdown of FPPS in both osteoclasts and osteoblasts, supporting a proof-of-concept to deliver siRNA to bone. In order to deliver siRNA to osteoclasts locally, resorbable poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) microparticles were utilized as protective carriers. Cell-specific phagocytosis was achieved by PLGA particle size-cell phagocyte discrimination and selective uptake by bone phagocytes. PLGA-siRNA particles were dispersed equally into clinical-grade injectable CPC to serve as the delivery carrier and facilitate further active and passive in vivo degradation of cement and potentially for enhancing bone in-growth and healing at surgical sites. Thi

Representations of the Han during the Late Qing and Early Republican Period

This dissertation examines the discourses of race, nation and ethnicity in late Qing and early republican China, focusing primarily on representations of the Han. It argues that the competing and changing representations of the Han in this period formed an integral part of the process of modern Chinese nation building. The empirical basis of the dissertation consists of three layers: intellectuals discourses, school textbooks and dictionaries. These layers constituted interconnected layers of discourses that were involved in the broader process of Chinese nation-building. The dissertation demonstrates that intellectuals discourses played a central role in constructing new notions of Chinese identity and the role of the Han, and thereby also in producing different templates or for Chinese nation-building during the late Qing and early republican period. After the establishment of the Chinese Republic in 1911, these modern perceptions of Chinese national identity were endorsed by the ruling elites and were gradually disseminated and popularised further by means of school textbooks and dictionaries. Taken together, the examination of discourses on the Han in these three types of sources therefore offers an account of how early Chinese nationalist ideas were produced among the elites and then disseminated among the broader population