UAV as a Service: Providing On-Demand Access and On-The-Fly Retasking of Multi-Tenant UAVs Using Cloud Services

As commercial roles for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) become more well-defined and demand for the services provided by them increases, UAVs rely more on new cloud computing services and co-operative coordination to provide mission planning, control, tracking and data processing. We present UAV as a Service (UAVaaS) framework, which brings features commonly found in traditional cloud services, such as Infrastructure, Platform, and Software as a Service, to the domain of UAVs. Our work aims to conceptualize and design UAVaaS for commercial applications. Specifically, a cloud-provided orchestration framework that allows multi-tenant UAVs to easily serve multiple heterogenous clients at once and automatically re-task them to users with higher priority, mid-flight, if needed. This research utilizes a spiral model design approach to formally define the UAVaaS framework, and to identify key focus areas, protocols, data structures, network topologies, and message patterns. A safety and security analysis is performed to mitigate potential risks that are present in the system and a prototype simulation is implemented as proof of concept

Familiar Waters: Jakarta’s Floods as Colonial Inheritance, Dutch Interventions as Postcolonial Challenge

This journal has been published at different time periods under the following titles: Explorations: A Graduate Student Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, Explorations in Southeast Asian Studies, and The Journal of the Southeast Asian Studies Association

Uncovering The Relationship Between Opioid Use And Postpartum Depression: Evidence From A Two-Sample Mendelian Randomization Study

Background and Objective: Opioid use during pregnancy is a significant public health concern that has been associated with adverse maternal and fetal outcomes. This study aims to investigate the association between the genetic liability for prescription opioid medication and postpartum depression (PPD) using a Two-Sample Mendelian Randomization (MR) approach. By reducing the risk of residual confounding found in traditional observational studies, we can comprehend how MR can further improve our understanding of this issue. Design, setting, and participants: We conducted a 2-sample MR using summary statistics from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) to determine associations of prescription opioid use with PPD. Selected relevant single nucleotide polymorphisms from GWASs have a threshold P less than 5x10-6 and R2 ≤ 0.001. The GWAS data comprised participants of European ancestry included in the UK Biobank and FinnGen biobanks. We performed sensitivity analyses to assess bias due to genetic pleiotropy. Main outcomes and measures: Postpartum depression Results: The primary analysis included 78,808 participants with a record of prescription opioid use, 13,657 participants with PPD, and 236,178 without PPD. Per doubling in the genetically predicted population prevalence of opioid use, the odds of developing PPD increased by 12% (OR = 1.12, [95% CI] = [1.05, 1.20], p = 0.002). This finding was further validated by sensitivity analyses controlling for genetically predicted cofounders. Conclusions and relevance: The findings of these robust MR analyses additionally demonstrate a potential causal association between opioid use and PPD when considering traditional observational studies suggesting a relationship between opioid use and PPD. While replication is necessary, these findings may inform further investigation of the opioid epidemic related to maternal mental health

Types and temperaments : personality correlates of belief in, and involvement with paranormal phenomena : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University

The objective of the study reported in this thesis was to investigate personality correlates of belief in, and involvement with paranormal phenomena. Two approaches to personality were adopted. One approach used Jung's (1921/1974) Functional theory of personality types, the other approach used Keirsey and Bates' (1984) four-temperament theory. Belief in the paranormal and involvement with the paranormal were regarded as two distinct and separable variables. Since the mid 1930's there have been over 150 published articles concerned with the various correlates of belief in, and involvement with paranormal phenomena. This reflects the fact that paranormal beliefs in the general population are pervasive and, if religious beliefs are regarded as falling within the domain of paranormal beliefs, are long standing and socially maintained and encouraged. In fact, across cultures, the majority of the population believes in one or more paranormal beliefs (Clarke, 1991; Messer & Griggs, 1989; Sobal & Emmons, 1982, cited in Irwin, 1993). The amount of research data in paranormal beliefs accumulated so far is considered to be substantial (Irwin, 1993)

Measuring the process efficiency of controlled gas metal arc welding processes

The thermal or process efficiency in gas metal arc welding (GMAW) is a crucial input to numerical models of the process and requires the use of an accurate welding calorimeter. In this paper, the authors compare a liquid nitrogen calorimeter with an insulated box calorimeter for measuring the process efficiency of Fronius cold metal transfer, Lincoln surface tension transfer and RapidArc, Kemppi FastRoot and standard pulsed GMAW. All of the controlled dip transfer processes had a process efficiency of ∼85% when measured with the liquid nitrogen calorimeter. This value was slightly higher when welding in a groove and slightly lower for the RapidArc and pulsed GMAW. The efficiency measured with the insulated box calorimeter was slightly lower, but it had the advantage of a much smaller random err

Utah digital newspapers project

ManuscriptThe J. Willard Marriott Library at the University of Utah has digitized 30,000 pages from three weekly Utah newspapers from the period of 1889 - 1922 and made the collections freely available on the Internet. This article describes a new method for digitizing historic newspapers, developed in a partnership between the University and two commercial organizations. Utilizing OCR and newspaper processing technology from iArchives Inc. and the CONTENTdm digital collections software suite, the new method recently prototyped by the University of Utah presents a viable and affordable digitization method to cultural heritage institutions nationwide. In particular, the process can be implemented incrementally, making it affordable for both small and large collections, and the technology supports many different digital formats, not just newspapers. The digitized newspapers are publicly accessible and may be searched full text or browsed by issue. With the recent award of a new grant another 100,000 pages from an expanded selection of newspapers are slated for digitization in 2003