Modelling 3D camera movement for vibration characterisation and multiple object identification with application to lighting assessment

Utilising cameras as a means to survey the surrounding environment is becoming increasingly popular in a number of different research areas and applications. Central to using camera sensors as input to a vision system, is the need to be able to manipulate and process the information captured in these images. One such application, is the use of cameras to monitor the quality of airport landing lighting at aerodromes where a camera is placed inside an aircraft and used to record images of the lighting pattern during the landing phase of a flight. The images are processed to determine a performance metric. This requires the development of custom software for the localisation and identification of luminaires within the image data. However, because of the necessity to keep airport operations functioning as efficiently as possible, it is difficult to collect enough image data to develop, test and validate any developed software. In this paper, we present a technique to model a virtual landing lighting pattern. A mathematical model is postulated which represents the glide path of the aircraft including random deviations from the expected path. A morphological method has been developed to localise and track the luminaires under different operating conditions. © 2011 IEEE.

Production and characterisation of monoclonal antibodies for the detection of AOZ, a tissue bound metabolite of furazolidone

3-amino-2-oxazolidinone (AOZ) is a tissue bound toxic metabolite derived from the nitrofuran antibiotic, furazolidone. AOZ is detected in the derivatised form of 3-{[(2-nitrophenyl) methylene]amino}-2-oxazolidinone (NP AOZ). 3-{[( 3- carboxyphenyl)-methylene]amino-2-oxazolidinone (CP AOZ) was used as the immunising hapten for the production of monoclonal antibodies against NP AOZ. Monoclonal antibodies were produced using hybridomas from the fusion of murine myeloma cells and spleen cells isolated from BALB/c mice immunised with CP AOZ-ethylenediamine-human serum albumin (CP AOZ-ed-HSA). The antibody production in ascitic fluids from clones 3B8/2B9 and 2D11/A4 was monitored during a 16 month period. Repeated cultures of these hybridomas, followed by injection into mice and cloning did not change the assay parameters. Clone 2D11/A4 exhibited long term stability in antibody production throughout the experiment whereas clone 3B8/2B9 demonstrated variability in particular antibody yields whilst retaining assay sensitivity. Reasons for this production variability in clones are discussed. In an optimised direct ELISA format, the antibodies exhibited a 50% binding inhibition in the range of 0.52-1.15 ng/ml with NP AOZ (0.22-0.50 ng/ml, respective AOZ equivalents) and showed high specificity towards this analyte. The sensitivity of monoclonal antibodies incorporated into the ELISA is compatible with the European Union MRLP and is currently in use for routine analysis.

Intralaminar toughness characterisation of unbalanced hybrid plain weave laminates

A numerical and experimental investigation on the mode-I intralaminar toughness of a hybrid plain weave composite laminate manufactured using resin infusion under flexible tooling (RIFT) process is presented in this paper. The pre-cracked geometries consisted of overheight compact tension (OCT), double edge notch (DEN) and centrally cracked four-point-bending (4PBT) test specimens. The position as well as the strain field ahead of the crack tip during the loading stage was determined using a digital speckle photogrammetry system. The limitation on the applicability of the standard data reduction schemes for the determination of intralaminar toughness of composite materials is presented and discussed. A methodology based on the numerical evaluation of the strain energy release rate using the J-integral method is proposed to derive new geometric correction functions for the determination of the stress intensity factor for composites. The method accounts for material anisotropy and finite specimen dimension effects regardless of the geometry. The approach has been validated for alternative non-standard specimen geometries. A comparison between different methods currently available for computing the intralaminar fracture toughness in composite laminates is presented and a good agreement between numerical and experimental results using the proposed methodology was obtained. 

Design, optimization and characterisation of polymeric microneedle arrays prepared by a novel laser-based micromoulding technique

Design and evaluation of a novel laser-based method for micromoulding of microneedle arrays from polymeric materials under ambient conditions. The aim of this study was to optimise polymeric composition and assess the performance of microneedle devices that possess different geometries.

Isolation and Characterisation of 1-Alkyl-3- Methylimidazolium Chloride Ionic Liquid-Tolerant and Biodegrading Marine Bacteria

The aim of this study was to isolate and identify marine-derived bacteria which exhibited high tolerance to, and an ability to biodegrade, 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ionic liquids. The salinity and hydrocarbon load of some marine environments may induce selective pressures which enhance the ability of microbes to grow in the presence of these liquid salts. The isolates obtained in this study generally showed a greater ability to grow in the presence of the selected ionic liquids compared to microorganisms described previously, with two marine-derived bacteria, Rhodococcus erythropolis and Brevibacterium sanguinis growing in concentrations exceeding 1 M 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride. The ability of these bacteria to degrade the selected ionic liquids was assessed using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), and three were shown to degrade the selected ionic liquids by up to 59% over a 63-day test period. These bacterial isolates represent excellent candidates for further potential applications in the bioremediation of ionic liquid-containing waste or following accidental environmental exposure.