Aerial Coverage Path Planning applied to Mapping

In the last decade we have seen how small and light weight aerial platforms - aka, Mini Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (MUAV) - shipped with heterogeneous sensors have become a 'most wanted' Remote Sensing (RS) tool. Most of the off-the-shelf aerial systems found in the market provide way-point navigation. However, they do not rely on a tool that compute the aerial trajectories considering all the aspects that allow optimizing the aerial missions. One of the most demanded RS applications of MUAV is image surveying. The images acquired are typically used to build a high-resolution image, i.e., a mosaic of the workspace surface. Although, it may be applied to any other application where a sensor-based map must be computed. This thesis provides a study of this application and a set of solutions and methods to address this kind of aerial mission by using a fleet of MUAVs. In particular, a set of algorithms are proposed for map-based sampling, and aerial coverage path planning (ACPP). Regarding to map-based sampling, the approaches proposed consider workspaces with different shapes and surface characteristics. The workspace is sampled considering the sensor characteristics and a set of mission requirements. The algorithm applies different computational geometry approaches, providing a unique way to deal with workspaces with different shape and surface characteristics in order to be surveyed by one or more MUAVs. This feature introduces a previous optimization step before path planning. After that, the ACPP problem is theorized and a set of ACPP algorithms to compute the MUAVs trajectories are proposed. The problem addressed herein is the problem to coverage a wide area by using MUAVs with limited autonomy. Therefore, the mission must be accomplished in the shortest amount of time. The aerial survey is usually subject to a set of workspace restrictions, such as the take-off and landing positions as well as a safety distance between elements of the fleet. Moreover, it has to avoid forbidden zones to y. Three different algorithms have been studied to address this problem. The approaches studied are based on graph searching, heuristic and meta-heuristic approaches, e.g., mimic, evolutionary. Finally, an extended survey of field experiments applying the previous methods, as well as the materials and methods adopted in outdoor missions is presented. The reported outcomes demonstrate that the findings attained from this thesis improve ACPP mission for mapping purpose in an efficient and safe manner.

Aerial Coverage Path Planning applied to Mapping

In the last decade we have seen how small and light weight aerial platforms - aka, Mini Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (MUAV) - shipped with heterogeneous sensors have become a 'most wanted' Remote Sensing (RS) tool. Most of the off-the-shelf aerial systems found in the market provide way-point navigation. However, they do not rely on a tool that compute the aerial trajectories considering all the aspects that allow optimizing the aerial missions. One of the most demanded RS applications of MUAV is image surveying. The images acquired are typically used to build a high-resolution image, i.e., a mosaic of the workspace surface. Although, it may be applied to any other application where a sensor-based map must be computed. This thesis provides a study of this application and a set of solutions and methods to address this kind of aerial mission by using a fleet of MUAVs. In particular, a set of algorithms are proposed for map-based sampling, and aerial coverage path planning (ACPP). Regarding to map-based sampling, the approaches proposed consider workspaces with different shapes and surface characteristics. The workspace is sampled considering the sensor characteristics and a set of mission requirements. The algorithm applies different computational geometry approaches, providing a unique way to deal with workspaces with different shape and surface characteristics in order to be surveyed by one or more MUAVs. This feature introduces a previous optimization step before path planning. After that, the ACPP problem is theorized and a set of ACPP algorithms to compute the MUAVs trajectories are proposed. The problem addressed herein is the problem to coverage a wide area by using MUAVs with limited autonomy. Therefore, the mission must be accomplished in the shortest amount of time. The aerial survey is usually subject to a set of workspace restrictions, such as the take-off and landing positions as well as a safety distance between elements of the fleet. Moreover, it has to avoid forbidden zones to y. Three different algorithms have been studied to address this problem. The approaches studied are based on graph searching, heuristic and meta-heuristic approaches, e.g., mimic, evolutionary. Finally, an extended survey of field experiments applying the previous methods, as well as the materials and methods adopted in outdoor missions is presented. The reported outcomes demonstrate that the findings attained from this thesis improve ACPP mission for mapping purpose in an efficient and safe manner.

The development of architecture and urban design in China and the problem we need to solve = La utilización de la baja tecnología en la arquitectura popular de China y su combinación con el método del diseño arquitectónico moderno

In this article, I will research this topic from these aspects: the material, architectural forms, building technology and space experience, hoping to figure out the characteristic of traditional Chinese architecture and the use of low technology in it, explore a suitable path of the development of Chinese Vernacular Architecture.

Least activation path for protein folding: investigation of staphylococcal nuclease folding by stopped-flow circular dichroism.

Is the pathway of protein folding determined by the relative stability of folding intermediates, or by the relative height of the activation barriers leading to these intermediates? This is a fundamental question for resolving the Levinthal paradox, which stated that protein folding by a random search mechanism would require a time too long to be plausible. To answer this question, we have studied the guanidinium chloride (GdmCl)-induced folding/unfolding of staphylococcal nuclease [(SNase, formerly EC 3.1.4.7; now called microbial nuclease or endonuclease, EC 3.1.31.1] by stopped-flow circular dichroism (CD) and differential scanning microcalorimetry (DSC). The data show that while the equilibrium transition is a quasi-two-state process, kinetics in the 2-ms to 500-s time range are triphasic. Data support the sequential mechanism for SNase folding: U3 <--> U2 <--> U1 <--> N0, where U1, U2, and U3 are substates of the unfolded protein and N0 is the native state. Analysis of the relative population of the U1, U2, and U3 species in 2.0 M GdmCl gives delta-G values for the U3 --> U2 reaction of +0.1 kcal/mol and for the U2 --> U1 reaction of -0.49 kcal/mol. The delta-G value for the U1 --> N0 reaction is calculated to be -4.5 kcal/mol from DSC data. The activation energy, enthalpy, and entropy for each kinetic step are also determined. These results allow us to make the following four conclusions. (i) Although the U1, U2, and U3 states are nearly isoenergetic, no random walk occurs among them during the folding. The pathway of folding is unique and sequential. In other words, the relative stability of the folding intermediates does not dictate the folding pathway. Instead, the folding is a descent toward the global free-energy minimum of the native state via the least activation path in the vast energy landscape. Barrier avoidance leads the way, and barrier height limits the rate. Thus, the Levinthal paradox is not applicable to the protein-folding problem. (ii) The main folding reaction (U1 --> N0), in which the peptide chain acquires most of its free energy (via van der Waals' contacts, hydrogen bonding, and electrostatic interactions), is a highly concerted process. These energy-acquiring events take place in a single kinetic phase. (iii) U1 appears to be a compact unfolded species; the rate of conversion of U2 to U1 depends on the viscosity of solution. (iv) All four relaxation times reported here depend on GdmCl concentrations: it is likely that none involve the cis/trans isomerization of prolines. Finally, a mechanism is presented in which formation of sheet-like chain conformations and a hydrophobic condensation event precede the main-chain folding reaction.

Codominance and toxins: a path to drugs of nearly unlimited selectivity.

The effectiveness of drugs is often limited by their insufficient selectivity. I propose designs of therapeutic agents that address this problem. The key feature of these reagents, termed comtoxins (codominance-mediated toxins), is their ability to utilize codominance, a property characteristic of many signals in proteins, including degradation signals (degrons) and nuclear localization signals. A comtoxin designed to kill cells that express intracellular proteins P1 and P2 but to spare cells that lack P1 and/or P2 is a multidomain fusion containing a cytotoxic domain and two degrons placed within or near two domains P1* and P2* that bind, respectively, to P1 and P2. In a cell containing both P1 and P2, these proteins would bind to the P1* and P2* domains of the comtoxin and sterically mask the nearby (appropriately positioned) degrons, resulting in a long-lived and therefore toxic drug. By contrast, in a cell lacking P1 and/or P2, at least one of the comtoxin's degrons would be active (unobstructed), yielding a short-lived and therefore nontoxic drug. A comtoxin containing both a degron and a nuclear localization signal can be designed to kill exclusively cells that contain P1 but lack P2. Analogous strategies yield comtoxins sensitive to the presence (or absence) of more than two proteins in a cell. Also considered is a class of comtoxins in which a toxic domain is split by a flexible insert containing binding sites for the target proteins. The potentially unlimited, combinatorial selectivity of comtoxins may help solve the problem of side effects that bedevils present-day therapies, for even nonselective delivery of a comtoxin would not affect cells whose protein "signatures" differ from the targeted one.

Expansion-based algorithms for finding single pair shortest path on surface

Finding single pair shortest paths on surface is a fundamental problem in various domains, like Geographic Information Systems (GIS) 3D applications, robotic path planning system, and surface nearest neighbor query in spatial database, etc. Currently, to solve the problem, existing algorithms must traverse the entire polyhedral surface. With the rapid advance in areas like Global Positioning System (CPS), Computer Aided Design (CAD) systems and laser range scanner, surface models axe becoming more and more complex. It is not uncommon that a surface model contains millions of polygons. The single pair shortest path problem is getting harder and harder to solve. Based on the observation that the single pair shortest path is in the locality, we propose in this paper efficient methods by excluding part of the surface model without considering them in the search process. Three novel expansion-based algorithms are proposed, namely, Naive algorithm, Rectangle-based Algorithm and Ellipse-based Algorithm. Each algorithm uses a two-step approach to find the shortest path. (1) compute an initial local path. (2) use the value of this initial path to select a search region, in which the global shortest path exists. The search process terminates once the global optimum criteria are satisfied. By reducing the searching region, the performance is improved dramatically in most cases.

Meeting the challenge on the path to democracy: discursive strategies in governmental declarations

The communicative practice in the ex-GDR was complex and diverse, although public political discourse had been fairly ritualized. Text-types characteristic of the Communist Party discourse were full of general (superordinate) terms semantic specification was hardly possible (propositional reduction). Changes in the social world result in changes in the communicative practice as well. However, a systematic comparision of text-types across cultures and across ideological boundaries reveals both differences in the textual macro- and superstructures and overlapping as well as universal features, probably related to functional aspects (discourse of power). Six sample texts of the text-type `government declaration', two produced in the ex-GDR, four in the united Germany, are analysed. Special attention is paid to similarities and differences (i) in the textual superstructure (problem-solution schema), (ii) in the concepts that reflect the aims of political actions (simple worlds), (iii) in the agents who (are to) perform these actions (concrete vs abstract agents). Similarities are found mainly in the discursive strategies, e.g. legitimization text actions. Differences become obvious in the strategies used for legitimization, and also in the conceptual domains referred to by the problem-solution schema. The metaphors of construction, path and challenge are of particular interest in this respect.

Sales manager problem resolution styles:measure development and an examination of their salesperson-related consequences

Personal selling and sales management play a critical role in the short and long term success of the firm, and have thus received substantial academic interest since the 1970s. Sales research has examined the role of the sales manager in some depth, defining a number of key technical and interpersonal roles which sales managers have in influencing sales force effectiveness. However, one aspect of sales management which appears to remain unexplored is that of their resolution of salesperson-related problems. This study represents the first attempt to address this gap by reporting on the conceptual and empirical development of an instrument designed to measure sales managers' problem resolution styles. A comprehensive literature review and qualitative research study identified three key constructs relating to sales managers' problem resolution styles. The three constructs identified were termed; sales manager willingness to respond, sales manager caring, and sales manager aggressiveness. Building on this, existing literature was used to develop a conceptual model of salesperson-specific consequences of the three problem resolution style constructs. The quantitative phase of the study consisted of a mail survey of UK salespeople, achieving a total sample of 140 fully usable responses. Rigorous statistical assessment of the sales manager problem resolution style measures was undertaken, and construct validity examined. Following this, the conceptual model was tested using latent variable path analysis. The results for the model were encouraging overall, and also with regard to the individual hypotheses. Sales manager problem resolution styles were found individually to have significant impacts on the salesperson-specific variables of role ambiguity, emotional exhaustion, job satisfaction, organisational commitment and organisational citizenship behaviours. The findings, theoretical and managerial implications, limitations and directions for future research are discussed.

Solving Travelling Salesman Problem in a Simulation of Genetic Algorithms with DNA

In this paper it is explained how to solve a fully connected N-City travelling salesman problem (TSP) using a genetic algorithm. A crossover operator to use in the simulation of a genetic algorithm (GA) with DNA is presented. The aim of the paper is to follow the path of creating a new computational model based on DNA molecules and genetic operations. This paper solves the problem of exponentially size algorithms in DNA computing by using biological methods and techniques. After individual encoding and fitness evaluation, a protocol of the next step in a GA, crossover, is needed. This paper also shows how to make the GA faster via different populations of possible solutions.

An Optimal Distributed Algorithm for All-Pairs Shortest-Path

In this paper the network problem of determining all-pairs shortest-path is examined. A distributed algorithm which runs in O(n) time on a network of n nodes is presented. The number of messages of the algorithm is O(e+n log n) where e is the number of communication links of the network. We prove that this algorithm is time optimal.

An Effective Exact Algorithm for One Particular Case of the Travelling-Salesman Problem

The article presents the exact algorithm for solving one case of the job-scheduling problem for the case when the source matrix is ordered by rows.

An efficient, approximate path-following algorithm for elastic net based nonlinear spike enhancement

Unwanted spike noise in a digital signal is a common problem in digital filtering. However, sometimes the spikes are wanted and other, superimposed, signals are unwanted, and linear, time invariant (LTI) filtering is ineffective because the spikes are wideband - overlapping with independent noise in the frequency domain. So, no LTI filter can separate them, necessitating nonlinear filtering. However, there are applications in which the noise includes drift or smooth signals for which LTI filters are ideal. We describe a nonlinear filter formulated as the solution to an elastic net regularization problem, which attenuates band-limited signals and independent noise, while enhancing superimposed spikes. Making use of known analytic solutions a novel, approximate path-following algorithm is given that provides a good, filtered output with reduced computational effort by comparison to standard convex optimization methods. Accurate performance is shown on real, noisy electrophysiological recordings of neural spikes.

The Shapley value for shortest path games

In this paper shortest path games are considered. The transportation of a good in a network has costs and benet too. The problem is to divide the prot of the transportation among the players. Fragnelli et al (2000) introduce the class of shortest path games, which coincides with the class of monotone games. They also give a characterization of the Shapley value on this class of games. In this paper we consider further four characterizations of the Shapley value (Shapley (1953)'s, Young (1985)'s, Chun (1989)'s, and van den Brink (2001)'s axiomatizations), and conclude that all the mentioned axiomatizations are valid for shortest path games. Fragnelli et al (2000)'s axioms are based on the graph behind the problem, in this paper we do not consider graph specic axioms, we take TU axioms only, that is, we consider all shortest path problems and we take the view of abstract decision maker who focuses rather on the abstract problem than on the concrete situations.

The Shapley value for shortest path games

In this paper shortest path games are considered. The transportation of a good in a network has costs and benet too. The problem is to divide the prot of the transportation among the players. Fragnelli et al (2000) introduce the class of shortest path games, which coincides with the class of monotone games. They also give a characterization of the Shapley value on this class of games. In this paper we consider further four characterizations of the Shapley value (Shapley (1953)'s, Young (1985)'s, Chun (1989)'s, and van den Brink (2001)'s axiomatizations), and conclude that all the mentioned axiomatizations are valid for shortest path games. Fragnelli et al (2000)'s axioms are based on the graph behind the problem, in this paper we do not consider graph specic axioms, we take TU axioms only, that is, we consider all shortest path problems and we take the view of abstract decision maker who focuses rather on the abstract problem than on the concrete situations.

Linking heritage: Yenya Punhi Festival a path to reinforce identity. The Katmandu experience

In today’s world heritage worldwide are at the risk not only because of natural process of decay and destruction but also by social change like urbanization, globalization and homogenization of cultures. With these emerging problems, the heritage conservation discourse also has reached to a new dimension including broader range of concepts like tangible heritage, intangible heritage, community participation, indigenous knowledge and many more. Even with the changing scenario in the international context about the heritage conservation, Nepal’s heritage conservation still focus on monuments, sites and buildings. In add to that the conservation practices are still top-down approach and community involvements are limited only in plans. While numerous intangible heritages like masking dances chariot processions, festivals and rituals, which form an integral part of the daily social life of people are still being continued and managed by the community and its people, without with out serious attention form the government. In Kathmandu Valley these heritages has been maintained with the traditional social association of people known as “Guthi” which has been continuing since 5th Century. Most of the tangible and intangible heritages have survived for centuries because of this unique association of people. Among the numerous festivals of the Kathmandu Valley, the festival Yenya Punhi was chosen as a case for this study, which is also a major festival of Kathmandu. This festival is the perfect example for the study as its celebrated in the city that is the most urbanized city of Nepal with the challenges of the every modern city like social changes and urbanization. Despite modern challenges Guthi still plays a major role in the heritage conservation in Kathmandu Valley. Now there are some interventions of the various formal institutions. So this study will be focusing on the management, continuity and problems of the festival along with Nepal’s position in terms of intangible heritage conservation. The problem of Kathmandu and Yenya Punhi festival is the problem of every country in the similar situation so with this case study it can be a good example for finding solutions of the similar problem not only the other festivals within Nepal but also elsewhere in the world; Resumo: Conexão de Património: Festival Yenya Punhi um caminho de fortalecimento de identidade: A experiência de Catmandu Nos dias de hoje, os patrimónios mundiais encontram-se em risco, não só devido ao processo natural de degradação e destruição, mas também pelas mudanças sociais, tais como a urbanização, globalização e homogeneização de culturas. Com o emergir destes problemas, o discurso de conservação de Património atingiu também uma nova dimensão, incluíndo uma área mais abrangente de conceitos, como por exemplo, património material, património imaterial, participação da comunidade, conhecimento indígena, entre outros. Mesmo com este cenário de mudança no contexto mundial de conservação do património, a preservação do património do Nepal continua a focar-se em monumentos, sítios e edíficios. A acrescentar a isso, as práticas de conservação ainda têm uma abordagem descendente e os envolvimentos da comunidade são limitados por planificações. Enquanto que os numerosos patrimónios imateriais como danças com máscaras, procissões, festivais e rituais, os quais formam uma parte integral da vida diária social das pessoas que as continuam e as gerem em comunidade, sem uma atenção séria por parte do governo. No Vale de Catmandu, este património tem sido mantido pela associação tradicional de pessoas conhecidas como ''Guthi'' desde o século V. A maior parte destes patrimónios materiais e imateriais tem sobrevivido durante séculos graças a esta associação única de pessoas. Entre os numerosos festivais do Vale de Catmandu, o festival Yenya Puhni foi escolhido para este estudo, pois é também um grande festival em Catmandu. Este festival é o exemplo perfeito para este estudo, pois é celebrado na cidade mais urbanizada do Nepal, com os desafios das cidades modernas tais como mudanças sociais e urbanização. Apesar dos desafios da modernização, os ''Guthi'' ainda desempenham um papel importante na preservação do património do Vale de Catmandu. Agora, existem algumas intervenções de várias instituições formais Então, este estudo irá focar-se na gestão, continuidade e problemas do festival, juntamente com a posição do Nepal em termos de conservação de património imaterial. O problema de Catmandu e do festival Yenya Punhi é o problema de todos os países em situação semelhante então, este estudo pode ser um bom exemplo para encontrar soluções de problemas parecidos, não só em outros festivais no Nepal mas também para qualquer parte do mundo.