Hybrid Evolutionary Framework for Designing and Implementing Autonomous Modular Robotics

This paper proposes a novel framework for automatically designing feasible robots that are made up of various heterogeneous modules and raw materials already existing in the surrounding environment. Moreover, it highlights the interrelationship between the robot’s morphology, control, and environment by analyzing the coevolution of morphology and control in robots and allowing the initial set of robots to use the available units in the environment to self-assemble, self-reconfigure, and self-repair. In addition, digital fabrication technologies such as 3D printing are utilized to produce new units if needed and available

SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF ENZYME CATALYZED BIODEGRADABLE “CLICK-ENE” POLYMERS FOR TARGETED CANCER THERAPY

In this study, we report various biodegradable polymers with tunable physical properties and their possible drug delivery applications. These polymers were designed in such a way that bio-based starting materials (for example, sorbitol, hexanediol, glutaric acid) were used in order to obtain double-bond functionalized biopolymers in one-pot, and the polymerization reaction was catalyzed using an enzyme catalyst, Novozyme 435. In addition, a novel “Click-ene” chemistry was used to functionalize the resulting polymers in order to target specific cancer cells. The resulting polymers were purified using solvent precipitation method and characterized using spectroscopic techniques such as NMR, FT-IR, GPC, DSC and TGA, and the results are summarized in this thesis. In addition, to evaluate the potential biomedical applications of the DiI-encapsulating PNPs, we assessed their potential cytotoxicity by the MTT assay. Finally, these functional polymers were used to synthesize anti-tumor drug encapsulating polymeric drug delivery systems for the targeted therapy of cancer. Including synthesis and characterization results, various cell-based assays for cancer therapy will be highlighted in this work

Integration of a non-homologous end-joining pathway into prokaryotic cells to enable repair of double-stranded breaks induced by Cpf1

The CRISPR-Cpf1 induces DNA double stranded breaks (DSBs) that need to be repaired by either homology-directed repair (HDR) or non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) repair mechanisms. Most prokaryotes lack the NHEJ repair system and repair DSBs by HDR when template DNA is provided. The human bacterial commensal Escherichia coli can repair DNA DSB damage by HDR or by the alternative method of microhomology mediated end joining (MMEJ). MMEJ can enable end resection after RecBCD exonuclease activity deletes DNA between microhomologous regions. This can result in the formation of small to undesirable large deletions between these microhomologies. Up until this point, a specific and precise gene knockout tool that does not induce extensive deletions has not been developed for use in E. coli or other NHEJ deficient bacteria. Hence, a novel strategy was developed in this study to induce DSBs by CRISPR-Cpf1, inhibit RecBCD exonuclease activity and enable repair by the expression of compatible plasmid-borne genes supplied in trans. This strategy required the development of a compatible plasmid system that could encode an arabinose inducible FnCpf1 effector from a chloramphenicol resistant p15A oriV replicon and a T7 RNA polymerase expressed crRNA (to guide FnCpf1 to its DNA target site) from a Cpf1 guide module residing on an ampicillin resistant promoterless ColE1 plasmid vector to induce DSB formation within E. coli BL21 DE3 lacZω. Surprisingly, the results revealed that the Cpf1 induction did not compromise cell viability in the induced compared to the uninduced state. In addition, a LacI de-repressible plasmid-borne multi-component NHEJ repair system containing the gam gene from phage λ (to repress the RecBCD complex), the Ku DNA end-binding protein from Mycobacterium smegmatis (to protect DSB ends from exonuclease attack) and the bacteriophage T4 DNA ligase gene (to promote ligation of DSB termini) was developed to enhance DSB end resection. The repair system was incorporated into the broad host range (BHR) plasmid pBBR1 which could be conjugally transferred into a wide variety of bacterial backgrounds. Further work needs to be conducted now to investigate if the constructed system can be used to effectively edit the genomes of not only E. coli but also other Gram-negative bacteria

Autonomous Task-Based Evolutionary Design of Modular Robots

In an attempt to solve the problem of finding a set of multiple unique modular robotic designs that can be constructed using a given repertoire of modules to perform a specific task, a novel synthesis framework is introduced based on design optimization concepts and evolutionary algorithms to search for the optimal design. Designing modular robotic systems faces two main challenges: the lack of basic rules of thumb and design bias introduced by human designers. The space of possible designs cannot be easily grasped by human designers especially for new tasks or tasks that are not fully understood by designers. Therefore, evolutionary computation is employed to design modular robots autonomously. Evolutionary algorithms can efficiently handle problems with discrete search spaces and solutions of variable sizes as these algorithms offer feasible robustness to local minima in the search space; and they can be parallelized easily to reducing system runtime. Moreover, they do not have to make assumptions about the solution form. This dissertation proposes a novel autonomous system for task-based modular robotic design based on evolutionary algorithms to search for the optimal design. The introduced system offers a flexible synthesis algorithm that can accommodate to different task-based design needs and can be applied to different modular shapes to produce homogenous modular robots. The proposed system uses a new representation for modular robotic assembly configuration based on graph theory and Assembly Incidence Matrix (AIM), in order to enable efficient and extendible task-based design of modular robots that can take input modules of different geometries and Degrees Of Freedom (DOFs). Robotic simulation is a powerful tool for saving time and money when designing robots as it provides an accurate method of assessing robotic adequacy to accomplish a specific task. Furthermore, it is difficult to predict robotic performance without simulation. Thus, simulation is used in this research to evaluate the robotic designs by measuring the fitness of the evolved robots, while incorporating the environmental features and robotic hardware constraints. Results are illustrated for a number of benchmark problems. The results presented a significant advance in robotic design automation state of the art

The influence of organisational culture and knowledge-sharing on business systems success : a case of Saudi Arabian firms

University of Technology Sydney. Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology.The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of organisational culture and knowledge-sharing on business systems success in Saudi Arabian firms. Understanding the factors that contribute to business systems success has been a challenging process for both public and private organisations in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia has managed to attract a workforce from all over the world, and this has enabled it to merge varied cultures. Organisational culture is measured as a significant aspect supporting knowledge-sharing between employees. Based on the competing value framework (CVF) (Quinn and Spreitzer, 1991), this research shows how various dimensions of organisational culture influence knowledge-sharing and business systems success, particularly the organisational and individual impact. In order to answer the research questions and test the hypotheses, this study applied a mixed-method research methodology that incorporated both quantitative and qualitative approaches. Phase 1 of the research study employs a quantitative method, with data collected from a survey of employees from Saudi Arabian firms. A qualitative research method (case study) is then carried out as the second phase of the research, which was used to support the validity of the quantitative results. 330 responses were used for quantitative data analysis, and 10 interviews were conducted with employees from two firms in Saudi Arabia for the quantitative data analysis. The results show a positive relationship exists between organisational culture (such as development, group, hierarchy and rational culture), knowledge-sharing and business system success in Saudi Arabian firms. The findings show that organisational culture has a strong impact on business system success through knowledge-sharing. On the basis of this study’s findings, it is argued that to achieve better business system outcomes (such as organisational and individual impact), it is important to influence organisational culture and knowledge-sharing. Moreover, the knowledge must be made available to all stakeholders involved in the ongoing use of business systems. This study has made a noteworthy contribution to the body of knowledge in that it is the first to investigate the relationship between organisational culture, knowledge-sharing and business system success in the Saudi Arabian context. In terms of practical implications, managers in Saudi firms should not pay attention on only one cultural type but should focus on all four cultural types (development, group, hierarchy and rational culture) to form a well-balanced culture to achieve business systems success in terms of organisational and individual impact

Detecting Bad Posture using Postuino among Engineering Graduate Students

Poster also presented at the Northeast Section American Society for Engineering Education 2015 at Northeastern University in Boston, MA on 2015-04-30.To understand how good posture minimizes computer related injury’s pain, we developed Postuino. A device that warns the computer users if they are leaning too close towards computer screen. Postuino has an accompanying web application that visualizes the collected data and displays a chart to simplify comparing be-tween straight time and slouch time. Also, the app suggests taking frequent breaks to minimize the risk of injuries and to increase productivity. Then, we designed an experiment with different factors to evaluate the efficiency of Postuino. In our study, 24 subjects first use the computer for 3 hours after disabling Postuino’s alert system. Afterwards, they use the computer again for another 3 hours after enabling the alert system. We collected data, analyzed it, and presented the results in this paper

Application for Big Data Visualization using Google BigQuery and Google Charts

Poster also presented at the Northeast Section American Society for Engineering Education 2015 at Northeastern University in Boston, MA on 2015-04-30.Big data visualization conveys information much faster than tables containing numbers and text. Therefore, this poster presents an efficient method for big data visualization on top of Google BigQuery. Google BigQuery is a cloud-based interactive query service for massive datasets built on Dremel. In this project, we used 'natality' dataset that has United States birth data from 1969 to 2008 saved in 137 million rows. For the implementation of dashboard application, we employ Google App Engine using Python and Google Charts with JavaScript

Cloud Computing Algebra Homomorphic Encryption Scheme Based on Fermat's Little Theorem

© ASEE 2013Although cloud computing is growing rapidly, a key challenge is to build confidence that the cloud can handle data securely. Data is migrated to the cloud after encryption. However, this data must be decrypted before carrying out any calculations; which can be considered as a security breach. Homomorphic encryption solved this problem by allowing different operations to be conducted on encrypted data and the result will come out encrypted as well. In this paper, we propose the application of Algebraic Homomorphic Encryption Scheme based on Fermat's Little Theorem on cloud computing for better security

Artificial Intelligence in Deepfake Technologies Based on Supply Chain Strategy

It is highly impossible to differentiate between verified and fake media news and updates with modern emerging technology. The creation of deeper fake photos and videos which use artificial intelligence (AI), that shows someone saying and doing things that never did in reality, is one of the recent innovations that contribute to it. Concentrated depths will easily hit millions of citizens and affect adversely our culture, along with their accessibility and pace of social networking. This paper analyses a variety of widely accessible internet news stories, while literature on this subject is scarce, in order to explore the depths, and who creates them, how deep technological advantages and risks are, which example of deepfake occur and how the depths are to be gauged. We will use qualitative research methodology to gather the available information and based on the findings, in the end, we will conclude the discussions along with recommendations

Application of Borrowing and Returning Books at the Library Azzira Using Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0

Penulisan Penelitian ini menjelaskan mengenai aplikasi peminjaman danpengembalian buku di Azzira perpustakaan yang selama ini prosesnya dilakukansecara manual. Oleh sebab itu penulis membuat sistem transaksi denganmengkomputerisasikan transaksi dengan menggunakan bahasa pemrogramanMicrosoft Visual Basic 6.0 dan Database dengan menggunakan MicrosoftAccess. Mudah-mudahan penulisan ini menjadi alternatif bagi pihakperpustakaan maupun kepada karyawannya yang mengharapkan semuakegiatannya berjalan dengan efektif, efisien dan terkoordinas