sUAS Swarm Navigation using Inertial, Range Radios and Partial GNSS

Small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS) operations are increasing in demand and complexity. Using multiple cooperative sUAS (i.e. a swarm) can be beneficial and is sometimes necessary to perform certain tasks (e.g., precision agriculture, mapping, surveillance) either independent or collaboratively. However, controlling the flight of multiple sUAS autonomously and in real-time in a challenging environment in terms of obstacles and navigation requires highly accurate absolute and relative position and velocity information for all platforms in the swarm. This information is also necessary to effectively and efficiently resolve possible collision encounters between the sUAS. In our swarm, each platform is equipped with a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) sensor, an inertial measurement unit (IMU), a baro-altimeter and a relative range sensor (range radio). When GNSS is available, its measurements are tightly integrated with IMU, baro-altimeter and range-radio measurements to obtain the platform’s absolute and relative position. When GNSS is not available due to external factors (e.g., obstructions, interference), the position and velocity estimators switch to an integrated solution based on IMU, baro and relative range meas-urements. This solution enables the system to maintain an accurate relative position estimate, and reduce the drift in the swarm’s absolute position estimate as is typical of an IMU-based system. Multiple multi-copter data collection platforms have been developed and equipped with GNSS, inertial sensors and range radios, which were developed at Ohio University. This paper outlines the underlying methodology, the platform hardware components (three multi-copters and one ground station) and analyzes and discusses the performance using both simulation and sUAS flight test data

SAM Domain-Based Protein Oligomerization Observed by Live-Cell Fluorescence Fluctuation Spectroscopy

Sterile-alpha-motif (SAM) domains are common protein interaction motifs observed in organisms as diverse as yeast and human. They play a role in protein homo- and hetero-interactions in processes ranging from signal transduction to RNA binding. In addition, mutations in SAM domain and SAM-mediated oligomers have been linked to several diseases. To date, the observation of heterogeneous SAM-mediated oligomers in vivo has been elusive, which represents a common challenge in dissecting cellular biochemistry in live-cell systems. In this study, we report the oligomerization and binding stoichiometry of high-order, multi-component complexes of (SAM) domain proteins Ste11 and Ste50 in live yeast cells using fluorescence fluctuation methods. Fluorescence cross-correlation spectroscopy (FCCS) and 1-dimensional photon counting histogram (1dPCH) confirm the SAM-mediated interaction and oligomerization of Ste11 and Ste50. Two-dimensional PCH (2dPCH), with endogenously expressed proteins tagged with GFP or mCherry, uniquely indicates that Ste11 and Ste50 form a heterogeneous complex in the yeast cytosol comprised of a dimer of Ste11 and a monomer of Ste50. In addition, Ste50 also exists as a high order oligomer that does not interact with Ste11, and the size of this oligomer decreases in response to signals that activate the MAP kinase cascade. Surprisingly, a SAM domain mutant of Ste50 disrupted not only the Ste50 oligomers but also Ste11 dimerization. These results establish an in vivo model of Ste50 and Ste11 homo- and hetero-oligomerization and highlight the usefulness of 2dPCH for quantitative dissection of complex molecular interactions in genetic model organisms such as yeast

Nondestructive assessment of freshness in packaged sliced chicken breasts using SW-NIR spectroscopy

A technique was developed to predict the freshness of packaged sliced chicken breast employing a nondestructive visible and short-wavelength near-infrared (SW-NIR) spectroscopy method. Spectra were recorded at 0, 7 and 14days using a camera, spectral filter (400-1000nm) and a halogen flood lighting system which were developed and calibrated for the purpose. Physicochemical, biochemical and microbiological properties such as moisture (x w), water activity (a w), pH, total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N), ATP breakdown compounds (K 1 values) and mesophilic bacteria (cfu g -1) were determined to predict freshness degradation. The spectra obtained were related to the storage time of the samples. The best wavelengths for modeling freshness were 413, 426, 449, 460, 473, 480, 499, 638, 942, 946, 967, 970 and 982nm. A linear correlation was found between the visible and SW-NIR spectroscopy and parameters such as microbiological counts, K 1 and T-VBN indexes. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd.We wish to thank the Polytechnic University of Valencia and Generalitat Valenciana for the financial support they provided through the PAID-06-08-3251 and GVPRE/2008/170 Projects, respectively.Grau Meló, R.; Sánchez Salmerón, AJ.; Girón Hernández, LJ.; Ivorra Martínez, E.; Fuentes López, A.; Barat Baviera, JM. (2011). Nondestructive assessment of freshness in packaged sliced chicken breasts using SW-NIR spectroscopy. Food Research International. 44:331-337. doi:10.1016/j.foodres.2010.10.011S3313374

A retrospective analysis of glycol and toxic alcohol ingestion: utility of anion and osmolal gaps

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Patients ingesting ethylene glycol, isopropanol, methanol, and propylene glycol ('toxic alcohols') often present with non-specific signs and symptoms. Definitive diagnosis of toxic alcohols has traditionally been by gas chromatography (GC), a technique not commonly performed on-site in hospital clinical laboratories. The objectives of this retrospective study were: 1) to assess the diagnostic accuracy of the osmolal gap in screening for toxic alcohol ingestion and 2) to determine the common reasons other than toxic alcohol ingestion for elevated osmolal gaps.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Electronic medical records from an academic tertiary care medical center were searched to identify all patients in the time period from January 1, 1996 to September 1, 2010 who had serum/plasma ethanol, glucose, sodium, blood urea nitrogen, and osmolality measured simultaneously, and also all patients who had GC analysis for toxic alcohols. Detailed chart review was performed on all patients with osmolal gap of 9 or greater.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In the study period, 20,669 patients had determination of serum/plasma ethanol and osmolal gap upon presentation to the hospitals. There were 341 patients with an osmolal gap greater than 14 (including correction for estimated contribution of ethanol) on initial presentation to the medical center. Seventy-seven patients tested positive by GC for one or more toxic alcohols; all had elevated anion gap or osmolal gap or both. Other than toxic alcohols, the most common causes for an elevated osmolal gap were recent heavy ethanol consumption with suspected alcoholic ketoacidosis, renal failure, shock, and recent administration of mannitol. Only 9 patients with osmolal gap greater than 50 and no patients with osmolal gap greater than 100 were found to be negative for toxic alcohols.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our study concurs with other investigations that show that osmolal gap can be a useful diagnostic test in conjunction with clinical history and physical examination.</p

Insulin-like growth factor - Oestradiol crosstalk and mammary gland tumourigenesis

Development and differentiation of the mammary gland are dependent on the appropriate temporal expression of both systemically acting hormones and locally produced growth factors. A large body of evidence suggests that molecular crosstalk between these hormonal and growth factor axes is crucial for appropriate cell and tissue function. Two of the most important trophic factors involved in this process are the oestrogen (E) and insulin-like growth factor (IGF) molecular axes. The reciprocal crosstalk that exists between these pathways occurs at transcriptional/post-transcriptional and translational/post-translational levels regulate the expression and activity of genes involved in this process. In a clinical context an important consequence of such crosstalk in the mammary gland is the role which it may play in the aetiology, maintenance and development of breast tumours. Although oestradiol (E2) acting through oestrogen receptors α and β (ERα/β) is important for normal mammary gland function it can also provide a mitogenic drive to ER+ breast tumours. Therefore over several years anti-oestrogen therapeutic regimens in the form of selective oestrogen receptor modulators (SERMs - e.g. tamoxifen), aromatase inhibitors (AI e.g. anastrozole) or selective oestrogen receptor down regulators (SERDs - e.g. fulvestrant) have been used in an adjuvant setting to control tumour growth. Although initial response is usually encouraging, large cohorts of patients eventually develop resistance to these treatments leading to tumour recurrence and poor prognosis. There are potentially many routes by which breast cancer (BC) cells could escape anti-oestrogen based therapeutic strategies and one of the most studied is the possible growth factor mediated activation of ER(s). Because of this, growth factor modulation of ER activity has been an intensively studied route of molecular crosstalk in the mammary gland. The insulin-like growth factors (IGF-1 and -2) are amongst the most potent mitogens for mammary epithelial cells and there is accumulating evidence that they interact with the E2 axis to regulate mitogenesis, apoptosis, adhesion, migration and differentiation of mammary epithelial cells. Such interactions are bi-directional and E2 has been shown to regulate the expression and activity of IGF axis genes with the general effect of sensitising breast epithelial cells to the actions of IGFs and insulin. In this short review we discuss the evidence for the involvement of crosstalk between the insulin-like growth factor (IGF) and oestrogen axes in the mammary gland and comment on the relevance of such studies in the aetiology and treatment of BC

The specific surface area and chemical composition of diamond dust near Barrow, Alaska

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/95687/1/jgrd17349.pd

Resolving the neural circuits of anxiety

Although anxiety disorders represent a major societal problem demanding new therapeutic targets, these efforts have languished in the absence of a mechanistic understanding of this subjective emotional state. While it is impossible to know with certainty the subjective experience of a rodent, rodent models hold promise in dissecting well-conserved limbic circuits. The application of modern approaches in neuroscience has already begun to unmask the neural circuit intricacies underlying anxiety by allowing direct examination of hypotheses drawn from existing psychological concepts. This information points toward an updated conceptual model for what neural circuit perturbations could give rise to pathological anxiety and thereby provides a roadmap for future therapeutic development.National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (U.S.) (NIH Director’s New Innovator Award DP2-DK-102256-01)National Institute of Mental Health (U.S.) (NIH) R01-MH102441-01)JPB Foundatio

Discovery and fine-mapping of adiposity loci using high density imputation of genome-wide association studies in individuals of African ancestry: African Ancestry Anthropometry Genetics Consortium

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified >300 loci associated with measures of adiposity including body mass index (BMI) and waist-to-hip ratio (adjusted for BMI, WHRadjBMI), but few have been identified through screening of the African ancestry genomes. We performed large scale meta-analyses and replications in up to 52,895 individuals for BMI and up to 23,095 individuals for WHRadjBMI from the African Ancestry Anthropometry Genetics Consortium (AAAGC) using 1000 Genomes phase 1 imputed GWAS to improve coverage of both common and low frequency variants in the low linkage disequilibrium African ancestry genomes. In the sex-combined analyses, we identified one novel locus (TCF7L2/HABP2) for WHRadjBMI and eight previously established loci at P < 5×10−8: seven for BMI, and one for WHRadjBMI in African ancestry individuals. An additional novel locus (SPRYD7/DLEU2) was identified for WHRadjBMI when combined with European GWAS. In the sex-stratified analyses, we identified three novel loci for BMI (INTS10/LPL and MLC1 in men, IRX4/IRX2 in women) and four for WHRadjBMI (SSX2IP, CASC8, PDE3B and ZDHHC1/HSD11B2 in women) in individuals of African ancestry or both African and European ancestry. For four of the novel variants, the minor allele frequency was low (<5%). In the trans-ethnic fine mapping of 47 BMI loci and 27 WHRadjBMI loci that were locus-wide significant (P < 0.05 adjusted for effective number of variants per locus) from the African ancestry sex-combined and sex-stratified analyses, 26 BMI loci and 17 WHRadjBMI loci contained ≤ 20 variants in the credible sets that jointly account for 99% posterior probability of driving the associations. The lead variants in 13 of these loci had a high probability of being causal. As compared to our previous HapMap imputed GWAS for BMI and WHRadjBMI including up to 71,412 and 27,350 African ancestry individuals, respectively, our results suggest that 1000 Genomes imputation showed modest improvement in identifying GWAS loci including low frequency variants. Trans-ethnic meta-analyses further improved fine mapping of putative causal variants in loci shared between the African and European ancestry populations