Securing Embedded Systems for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

This project focuses on securing embedded systems for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). Over the past two decades UAVs have evolved from a primarily military tool into one that is used in many commercial and civil applications. As the market for these products increases the need to protect transmitted data becomes more important. UAVs are flying missions that contain crucial data and without the right protection they can be vulnerable to malicious attacks. This project focuses on building a UAV platform and working to protect the data transmitted on it. The platform was able to detect red color and wirelessly transmit the coordinates of the color to a remote laptop. Areas that were focused on for security included the image processing and wireless communications modules

National Emergency System Analysis

The goal for this project was to study all aspects of the EMS 9-1-1 communication process, including response time, call procedures, and parties involved. By learning about these aspects, existing flaws in the system could be identified and improved. Another goal was to investigate many varieties of technology that can be integrated into 9-1-1 call structures. Furthermore, the project also included research about emergency 9-1-1 call systems of different U.S. States that have advanced medical systems. With the information obtained from new technology and superior systems, solutions for existing flaws inside 9-1-1 call system were chosen based on creative and practical basis. Ultimately, the outcome of this project was to provide a more efficient way of making emergency 9-1-1 calls

Safety and efficacy of fluoxetine on functional outcome after acute stroke (AFFINITY): a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

Background Trials of fluoxetine for recovery after stroke report conflicting results. The Assessment oF FluoxetINe In sTroke recoverY (AFFINITY) trial aimed to show if daily oral fluoxetine for 6 months after stroke improves functional outcome in an ethnically diverse population. Methods AFFINITY was a randomised, parallel-group, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial done in 43 hospital stroke units in Australia (n=29), New Zealand (four), and Vietnam (ten). Eligible patients were adults (aged ≥18 years) with a clinical diagnosis of acute stroke in the previous 2–15 days, brain imaging consistent with ischaemic or haemorrhagic stroke, and a persisting neurological deficit that produced a modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score of 1 or more. Patients were randomly assigned 1:1 via a web-based system using a minimisation algorithm to once daily, oral fluoxetine 20 mg capsules or matching placebo for 6 months. Patients, carers, investigators, and outcome assessors were masked to the treatment allocation. The primary outcome was functional status, measured by the mRS, at 6 months. The primary analysis was an ordinal logistic regression of the mRS at 6 months, adjusted for minimisation variables. Primary and safety analyses were done according to the patient's treatment allocation. The trial is registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, ACTRN12611000774921. Findings Between Jan 11, 2013, and June 30, 2019, 1280 patients were recruited in Australia (n=532), New Zealand (n=42), and Vietnam (n=706), of whom 642 were randomly assigned to fluoxetine and 638 were randomly assigned to placebo. Mean duration of trial treatment was 167 days (SD 48·1). At 6 months, mRS data were available in 624 (97%) patients in the fluoxetine group and 632 (99%) in the placebo group. The distribution of mRS categories was similar in the fluoxetine and placebo groups (adjusted common odds ratio 0·94, 95% CI 0·76–1·15; p=0·53). Compared with patients in the placebo group, patients in the fluoxetine group had more falls (20 [3%] vs seven [1%]; p=0·018), bone fractures (19 [3%] vs six [1%]; p=0·014), and epileptic seizures (ten [2%] vs two [<1%]; p=0·038) at 6 months. Interpretation Oral fluoxetine 20 mg daily for 6 months after acute stroke did not improve functional outcome and increased the risk of falls, bone fractures, and epileptic seizures. These results do not support the use of fluoxetine to improve functional outcome after stroke

Image annotation by search

The recent advances in technology have led to an exponential growth in the number of digital images being stored on the Internet as well as in personal computers. Effective methods to organize and index photos based on semantic content have become essential to provide users with the convenience of searching their albums for specific content without prior manual annotation. However, querying for the image content is still a challenging task which has attracted much research effort. In this paper, we present a photo query framework based on prior annotation. When the user provides a text query (e.g. “water”), the framework performs a search within the annotation database and finds relevant photos. To accomplish this goal, we built a set of classifiers to annotate user photos in advance, and used these annotations for query. We leveraged the NUS-WIDE dataset, which contains publicly available web images and their associated labels, to train the classifiers. These classifiers are used to detect the presence of concepts in each photo in a photo folder, and annotate the photos with suitable labels. To increase the accuracy of the annotation process, we conducted experiments on two simple but effective classification methods, k Nearest Neighbor (kNN) and Support Vector Machine (SVM), and determine the best method by considering their accuracy and speed.Bachelor of Engineering (Computer Science

Synthesis and Characterization of Fe3O4@SiO2 Sub-nano Core/shell with SiO2 Derived From Rice Husk Ash

This study aims to synthesize and characterize Fe3O4@SiO2 sub-nanoparticles (SNPs) with high saturation magnetization (SM). The research process was conducted in simple and environmentally friendly conditions. The results of ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis presented that the Fe3O4@SiO2 SNPs were well formed and the phase change of Fe3O4 NPs did not happen in Fe3O4@SiO2 SNPs. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) analysis showed that the Fe3O4@SiO2 SNPs are in a fairly spherical shape with a core/shell structure and a diameter in a range of 100 nm to 500 nm. Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FT-IR) spectra of Fe3O4@SiO2 SNPs presented some absorption peaks indicating the existence of Si-O-Si, O-Si-O, Fe-O and Fe-O-Si. The SM of Fe3O4 particles and Fe3O4@SiO2 SNPs determined via vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) were 50.9 emu.g−1 and 19.5 emu.g−1, respectively. All the above results provide clear evidence that the Fe3O4 particles were coated by SiO2 to form sub-nano core/shell with great SM

Additional file 1 of A study of genetic variants associated with skin traits in the Vietnamese population

Supplementary Material

Twelve-Month Outcomes of the AFFINITY Trial of Fluoxetine for Functional Recovery After Acute Stroke: AFFINITY Trial Steering Committee on Behalf of the AFFINITY Trial Collaboration

Background and Purpose: The AFFINITY trial (Assessment of Fluoxetine in Stroke Recovery) reported that oral fluoxetine 20 mg daily for 6 months after acute stroke did not improve functional outcome and increased the risk of falls, bone fractures, and seizures. After trial medication was ceased at 6 months, survivors were followed to 12 months post-randomization. This preplanned secondary analysis aimed to determine any sustained or delayed effects of fluoxetine at 12 months post-randomization. Methods: AFFINITY was a randomized, parallel-group, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in adults (n=1280) with a clinical diagnosis of stroke in the previous 2 to 15 days and persisting neurological deficit who were recruited at 43 hospital stroke units in Australia (n=29), New Zealand (4), and Vietnam (10) between 2013 and 2019. Participants were randomized to oral fluoxetine 20 mg once daily (n=642) or matching placebo (n=638) for 6 months and followed until 12 months after randomization. The primary outcome was function, measured by the modified Rankin Scale, at 6 months. Secondary outcomes for these analyses included measures of the modified Rankin Scale, mood, cognition, overall health status, fatigue, health-related quality of life, and safety at 12 months. Results: Adherence to trial medication was for a mean 167 (SD 48) days and similar between randomized groups. At 12 months, the distribution of modified Rankin Scale categories was similar in the fluoxetine and placebo groups (adjusted common odds ratio, 0.93 [95% CI, 0.76–1.14]; P =0.46). Compared with placebo, patients allocated fluoxetine had fewer recurrent ischemic strokes (14 [2.18%] versus 29 [4.55%]; P =0.02), and no longer had significantly more falls (27 [4.21%] versus 15 [2.35%]; P =0.08), bone fractures (23 [3.58%] versus 11 [1.72%]; P =0.05), or seizures (11 [1.71%] versus 8 [1.25%]; P =0.64) at 12 months. Conclusions: Fluoxetine 20 mg daily for 6 months after acute stroke had no delayed or sustained effect on functional outcome, falls, bone fractures, or seizures at 12 months poststroke. The lower rate of recurrent ischemic stroke in the fluoxetine group is most likely a chance finding. REGISTRATION: URL: http://www.anzctr.org.au/ ; Unique identifier: ACTRN12611000774921