Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and artificial intelligence revolutionizing wildlife monitoring and conservation

Surveying threatened and invasive species to obtain accurate population estimates is an important but challenging task that requires a considerable investment in time and resources. Estimates using existing ground-based monitoring techniques, such as camera traps and surveys performed on foot, are known to be resource intensive, potentially inaccurate and imprecise, and difficult to validate. Recent developments in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), artificial intelligence and miniaturized thermal imaging systems represent a new opportunity for wildlife experts to inexpensively survey relatively large areas. The system presented in this paper includes thermal image acquisition as well as a video processing pipeline to perform object detection, classification and tracking of wildlife in forest or open areas. The system is tested on thermal video data from ground based and test flight footage, and is found to be able to detect all the target wildlife located in the surveyed area. The system is flexible in that the user can readily define the types of objects to classify and the object characteristics that should be considered during classification.

Healthy waterways social science research report 2015

Healthy Waterways aims to protect and enhance the condition of waterways across 19 catchment local government areas in Queensland. It does this by seeking to influence the decisions and actions – including social lifestyle choices – of community members who interact with these waterways. It then monitors the waterways in the 19 catchments to gauge the impact of these decisions and actions. Each year, Healthy Waterways produces a report on its activities and their impact on the condition of the waterways they are monitoring. This research will contribute to understanding the social component of that report, specifically the attitudinal and behavioural components that underpin social expectations and actions towards protecting and supporting local waterways in communities across the 19 catchment local government areas in Queensland.

Incorporating the interrelationship between primary and support processes in monitoring and optimising longwall coal mining efficiency

This thesis increased the researchers understanding of the relationship between operations and maintenance in underground longwall coal mines, using data from a Queensland underground coal mine. The thesis explores various relationships between recorded variables. Issues with human recorded data was uncovered, and results emphasised the significance of variables associated with conveyor operation to explain production.

The assessment of ecological condition in south-east Queensland, Australia: An evaluation of reliability across variable environments and surrogate efficacy for biodiversity values

Multimetric ecological condition assessment has become an important biodiversity management tool. This study was the first to examine the reliability of these ecological surrogates across variable environments, and the implications for surrogate efficacy. It was demonstrated that through strategic application and design of the multimetric ecological condition index, the effects of environmental gradients and disturbance regimes can be mitigated, and that ecological condition assessment may serve as a scientifically rigorous approach for conservation planning.

Absolute quantification of human tear lactoferrin using multiple reaction monitoring technique with stable-isotopic labeling

The mass spectrometry technique of multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) was used to quantify and compare the expression level of lactoferrin in tear films among control, prostate cancer (CaP), and benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) groups. Tear samples from 14 men with CaP, 15 men with BPH, and 14 controls were analyzed in the study. Collected tears (2 μl) of each sample were digested with trypsin overnight at 37 °C without any pretreatment, and tear lactoferrin was quantified using a lactoferrin-specific peptide, VPSHAVVAR, both using natural/light and isotopic-labeled/heavy peptides with MRM. The average tear lactoferrin concentration was 1.01 ± 0.07 μg/μl in control samples, 0.96 ± 0.07 μg/μl in the BPH group, and 0.98 ± 0.07 μg/μl in the CaP group. Our study is the first to quantify tear proteins using a total of 43 individual (non-pooled) tear samples and showed that direct digestion of tear samples is suitable for MRM studies. The calculated average lactoferrin concentration in the control group matched that in the published range of human tear lactoferrin concentration measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Moreover, the lactoferrin was stably expressed across all of the samples, with no significant differences being observed among the control, BPH, and CaP groups.

Evaluation of material crack using acoustic emission technique

Cracks in civil structures can result in premature failure due to material degradation and can result in both financial loss and environmental consequences. This thesis reports an effective technique using Acoustic Emission (AE) technique to assess the severity of the crack propagation in steel structures. The outcome of this work confirms that combination of AE parametric analysis and signal processing techniques can be used to evaluate crack propagation under different loading configurations. The technique has potential application to assess and monitor the condition of civil structures.

RTK-based GNSS drifters for monitoring in estuaries and rivers: Field experimental results

This paper presents a novel RTK-based GNSS Lagrangian drifter system that is capable of monitoring water velocity, turbulence and dispersion coefficients of river and estuarine. The Lagrangian drifters use the dual-frequency real time kinematic (RTK) technique for both position and velocity estimations. The capsule is designed to meet the requirements such as minimizing height, diameter, minimizing the direct wind drag, positive buoyancy for satellite signal reception and stability, and waterproof housing for electronic components, such as GNSS receiver and computing board. The collected GNSS data are processed with post-processing RTK software. Several experiments have been carried out in two rivers in Brisbane and Sunshine Coast in Queensland. Results show that the high accuracy GNSS-drifters can be used to measure dispersion coefficient resulting from sub-tidal velocity fluctuations in shallow tidal water. In addition, the RTK-GNSS drifters respond well to vertical motion and thus could be applicable to flood monitoring.

Developing an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) multi-sensor payload carrier for air quality monitoring

Emissions of gases and particles from sea-faring ships have been shown to impact on the atmospheric chemistry and climate. To efficiently monitor and report these emissions found from a ship’s plume, the concept of using a multi-rotor or UAV to hover inside or near the exhaust of the ship to actively record the data in real time is being developed. However, for the required sensors obtain the data; their sensors must face into the airflow of the ships plume. This report presents an approach to have sensors able to read in the chemicals and particles emitted from the ship without affecting the flight dynamics of the multi-rotor UAV by building a sealed chamber in which a pump can take in the surrounding air (outside the downwash effect of the multi-rotor) where the sensors are placed and can analyse the gases safely. Results show that the system is small, lightweight and air-sealed and ready for flight test.

Temperature monitoring of nonanaesthetised patients in a cardiac catheterisation laboratory

Aim and objectives To identify the prevalence that temperature reduced by more than 1°C from pre to post-procedure in a sample of non-anaesthetised patients undergoing procedures in a cardiac catheterisation laboratory. Background Advances in medical technology are minimising the invasiveness of diagnostic tests and treatments for disease, which is correspondingly increasing the number of medical procedures performed without sedation or anaesthesia. Procedural areas in which medical procedures are performed without anaesthesia are typically kept at a cool temperature for staff comfort. As such, there is a need to inform nursing practices in regard to the thermal management of non-anaesthetised patients undergoing procedures in surgical or procedural environments. Design Single-site observational study Methods Patients were included if they had undergone an elective procedure without sedation or anaesthesia in a cardiac catheterisation laboratory. Ambient room temperature was maintained between 18°C and 20°C. Passive warming with heated cotton blankets was applied. Nurses measured body temperature and thermal comfort before and after 342 procedures. Results Mean change in temperature was -0.08°C (Standard deviation 0.43). The reduction in temperature was more than 1°C after 11 procedures (3.2%). One patient whose temperature had reduced more than 1°C after their procedure reported thermal discomfort. A total of 12 patients were observed to be shivering post-procedure (3.6%). No demographic or clinical characteristics were associated with reduction in temperature of more than 1°C from pre to post-procedure. Conclusions Significant reduction in body temperature was rare in our sample of non-anaesthetised patients. Relevance to clinical practice Similar results would likely be found in other procedural contexts during procedures conducted in settings with comparable room temperatures where passive warming can also be applied with limited skin exposure.

Graphene-like two-dimensional ionic boron with double dirac cones at ambient condition

Recently, partially ionic boron (γ-B28) has been predicted and observed in pure boron, in bulk phase and controlled by pressure [Nature, 457 (2009) 863]. By using ab initio evolutionary structure search, we report the prediction of ionic boron at a reduced dimension and ambient pressure, namely, the two-dimensional (2D) ionic boron. This 2D boron structure consists of graphene-like plane and B2 atom pairs, with the P6/mmm space group and 6 atoms in the unit cell, and has lower energy than the previously reported α-sheet structure and its analogues. Its dynamical and thermal stability are confirmed by the phonon-spectrum and ab initio molecular dynamics simulation. In addition, this phase exhibits double Dirac cones with massless Dirac fermions due to the significant charge transfer between the graphene-like plane and B2 pair that enhances the energetic stability of the P6/mmm boron. A Fermi velocity (vf) as high as 2.3 x 106 m/s, which is even higher than that of graphene (0.82 x 106 m/s), is predicted for the P6/mmm boron. The present work is the first report of the 2D ionic boron at atmospheric pressure. The unique electronic structure renders the 2D ionic boron a promising 2D material for applications in nanoelectronics.