Real-Time Work Zone Traffic Management via Unmanned Air Vehicles

Highway work zones are prone to traffic accidents when congestion and queues develop. Vehicle queues expand at a rate of 1 mile every 2 minutes. Back-of-queue, rear-end crashes are the most common work zone crash, endangering the safety of motorists, passengers, and construction workers. The dynamic nature of queuing in the proximity of highway work zones necessitates traffic management solutions that can monitor and intervene in real time. Fortunately, recent progress in sensor technology, embedded systems, and wireless communication coupled to lower costs are now enabling the development of real-time, automated, “intelligent” traffic management systems that address this problem. The goal of this project was to perform preliminary research and proof of concept development work for the use of UAS in realtime traffic monitoring of highway construction zones in order to create real-time alerts for motorists, construction workers, and first responders. The main tasks of the proposed system was to collect traffic data via the UAV camera, analyze that a UAV based highway construction zone monitoring systems would be capable of detecting congestion and back-of-queue information, and alerting motorists of stopped traffic conditions, delay times, and alternate route options. Experiments were conducted using UAS to monitor traffic and collect traffic videos for processing. Prototype software was created to analyze this data. The software was successful in detecting vehicle speed from zero mph to highway speeds. Review of available mobile traffic apps were conducted for future integration with advanced iterations of the UAV and software system that has been created by this research. This project has proven that UAS monitoring of highway construction zones and real-time alerts to motorists, construction crews, and first responders is possible in the near term and future research is needed to further development and implement the innovative UAS traffic monitoring system developed by this research

Loss of Scribble confers cisplatin resistance during NSCLC chemotherapy via Nox2/ROS and Nrf2/PD-L1 signaling

Background: Cisplatin resistance remains a major clinical obstacle to the successful treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Scribble contributes to ROS-induced inflammation and cisplatin-elevated toxic reactive oxygen species (ROS) promotes cell death. However, it is unknown whether and how Scribble is involved in the cisplatin-related cell death and the underlying mechanism of Scribble in response to chemotherapies and in the process of oxidative stress in NSCLC. Methods: We used two independent cohorts of NSCLC samples derived from patients treated with platinumcontaining chemotherapy and xenograft modeling in vivo. We analyzed the correlation between Scribble and Nox2 or Nrf2/PD-L1 both in vivo and in vitro, and explored the role of Scribble in cisplatin-induced ROS and apoptosis. Findings: Clinical analysis revealed that Scribble expression positively correlatedwith clinical outcomes and chemotherapeutic sensitivity in NSCLC patients. Scribble protected Nox2 protein from proteasomal degradation. Scribble knockdown induced cisplatin resistance by blocking Nox2/ROS and apoptosis in LRR domaindependent manner. In addition, low levels of Scribble correlated with high levels of PD-L1 via activation of Nrf2 transcription in vivo and in vitro. Interpretations: Our study revealed that polarity protein Scribble increased cisplatin-induced ROS generation and is beneficial to chemotherapeutic outcomes in NSCLC. Although Scribble deficiency tends to lead to cisplatin resistance by Nox2/ROS and Nrf2

Nonpeptidic ligands for peptide-activated G protein-coupled receptors

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