Equipping, programming and testing a robot searching for an avalanche transceiver
1. Purpose of the research Because we live in a famous winter sport region in Switzerland, we have been confronted with the problematic of avalanches since we were born. In winter 2011/2012 alone, 179 people were involved in an avalanche accident, of whom 25 died. The most important device for searching and rescuing a buried person is the avalanche transceiver. It creates an electromagnetic field, which can be used to locate a buried person with another transceiver. The most important factor while searching is time: After 30 min. the chance of survival of a buried person has dropped to 40%. Considering the fact that people often make mistakes when they are put under such a big stress, valuable time gets lost. This is where our project comes into play. With an automation of the searching process a fast and reliable search should be achieved. The aim we agreed on for this paper is to develop a prototype of a robot that can find an avalanche transceiver automatically and reliably. To study and optimize the functionality of our robot more easily, our tests have only been performed on flat ground. 2. Procedures The components of an avalanche transceiver with only one transmitting antenna are used as a receiver. With the help of this receiver, the signal of a transmitting avalanche transceiver was analysed. Furthermore, the results were used to evaluate the most suitable search technique. Our robot is based on the “RP6” robot system, which is programmable in the C-language. The signal of the receiver is modified in a way which allows the robot to read it. Based on the results of the signal analysis, a search algorithm is developed. In the final tests the robot was examined as to its functionality and efficiency. Therefore, the robot was positioned at randomly chosen starting points to locate the transmitting device. 3. Data The transmitter could be located correctly in every test. The starting points were successfully located up to 11 m from the transmitter. The search ending points were found at a maximum range of 0.5 m from the correct position. 4. Conclusions In view of the results, the aim of developing an automatic localisation of an avalanche transceiver on flat ground as a prototype is seen as fulfilled. Outside the specified range, the transmitter can only be located unreliably. This is due to the fact that outside that range the signal differential in different directions is too small to be processed by the robot. Our prototype was tested under ideal conditions. Certainly, our robot is still some way from being ready for use in an actual avalanche. Many different questions have not been answered yet or have come up during this project, for example: ‘How should the robot should be applied on uneven terrain?’ or: ‘How should it deal with several buried people at once (multiple transmitted signals)?’ Two aspects of our prototype, the low weight and the low construction costs, however, are particularly favourable.
Building Bridges with Water-The Floating Waterbridge
This paper describes the investigation of a fascinating physical phenomenon called the “floating water bridge”. Despite the fact that water is undoubtedly the most important chemical substance on earth, it is practically ubiquitous and it still represents one of the best explored substances, still not all characteristics are well-understood. There are some phenomena like the “floating water bridge”, which cannot be explained. If high voltage is applied to two beakers, which are arranged close to each other and which are filled with deionized water, a connection forms spontaneously, giving the impression of a floating water bridge. For the experiment discussed in this paper, two beakers with a diameter of 50 mm and a height of 80 mm are filled with triply deionized water. Platinum electrodes are submerged in the center of the beakers, one set to ground potential (anode), the other one on high voltage, up to 25 kV dc. Within the scope of this work, an experimental setup was developed, which enables measuring and demonstrating the most important parameters like voltage, current, length and temperature of the water bridge as well as the mass transfer between the beakers. In addition the correlation between the different parameters and the influence on the water bridge could be estimated. Once the beakers are separated, the bridge remains stable for several hours up to a length of 2.5 cm. With platinum electrodes and no electrolysis observed, a small current (≈300µA), a mass flow from anode to cathode and forces were measured. Pictures, taken with an infrared camera and a new developed method to record "infrared-videos", enabled to visualize the heat flow in the water bridge. Furthermore the conversion of energy and the dependence of charge and mass transfer could be estimated roughly. In the course of the investigations it was also tried to prove the water bridge with other liquids like castor oil, olive oil, a mixture of glycol and water as well as tap water - for some of them for the first time. Supplementary the experimental setup was varied by using different electrodes with different sizes and different material as well as beakers of different sizes and materials. In addition, a qualitative explanation was developed. The results of this work enable a better understanding of the floating water bridge and provide a basis for further research as well as for development of future practical applications. One of these applications could be an improved waste water treatment process.
Microbial diversity in the Mediterranean hypersaline deep-sea lake Tyro
1. Purpose of the research Characterization of bacterial and viral diversity of brine Tyro using molecular methods of identification. 2. Procedures For bacteria: 1. Amplification or multiplication of 16S rRNA gene (one of the most conservative gene) by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). 2. Agarose gel electrophoresis and purification of PCR product 3. Ligation of purified PCR product into the vector pGEM-T 4. Transformation of plasmids containing an insert into competent cells E.coli XB1 5. Blue-white selection (we need white colonies, they contain the insert of interest) 6. Isolation of plasmids containing an insert of interest 7. Sequencing of inserts 8. Bioinformatics analysis: matching homologues from GeneBank database, construction of phylogenetic trees, statistical analysis. For viruses: The same methods were used for gp23 gene, which code a major head protein of T-even bacteriophages; to amplify gp23 gene a special set of primers was used, along with a standard cloning protocol described above. 3. Data 1) Two libraries of clones were obtained during analysis: lake Tyro (24 operational taxonomic units (OTUs), 10 classes) and sea water (6 OTUs, 2 classes of eubacteria). 2) The most abundant classes were: gamma-, delta-, epsilon- Proteobacteria, which is in agreement with previous reports about bacteria in brines of Mediterranean Sea. 3) The number of clones was not sufficient to obtain stable estimates of diversity, the analysis require additional data. 4) The diversity of bacteria was unexpectedly high in brine but not in the seawater, due to higher and more diverse ion composition. 5) Most of the detected bacteria in the deep-sea lake belonged to the previously undescribed (18,75%) bacteria or had unusual metabolism (43,75%). 4. Conclusions The analysis demonstrated unexpectedly high diversity of halophilic bacteria inhabiting Tyro lake. Most of bacteria presented in brine water had unique and uncommon characteristics based on information about its closest relatives. Therefore, the deep-sea hypersaline lakes of Mediterranean Sea have great potential for further investigations. Preliminary results of diversity of viruses of Tyro lake were obtained during analysis, more complete description is coming soon.
On Course Line Management
The Online Course Management system was developed in 2012 by George Moon to address the issue of creating course books at Burnside High School in Christchurch, New Zealand. The course books are designed to inform students, staff and parents of the many courses that are available for students to choose for their next year of study. In the past, the system that the school used consisted of large amounts of paperwork and duplication. Not only did this system require a lot of effort from staff, but the course book cost the school thousands of dollars to produce, as it had to be sent off to be published into a large book that would be read by students for a week, then likely thrown out. This year the school decided to digitise the course book, so that students would look at their courses online. Earlier this year, the school believed that the new School Management System (SMS) ‘KAMAR’ would be able to handle all of the necessary information, however this was not the case. Because of this, they needed a simple solution that would collate all of the course data, and then output it as a course book. I developed my project to do this. It is a web based program that is accessible by staff on their computers which enables them to enter in all of the course and assessment data for their departments. As it is all securely stored on a central database, it reduces duplication and staff workload, as well as the added environmental bonus of less paper being used. The program also outputs data in a number of ways including as a coursebook PDF (digital document which can be uploaded or printed), an Excel spreadsheet and a webpage for easy viewing. It can be sorted or printed by different categories (such as level, faculty, department), which proved to be a very useful feature. Following some research on areas such as design principles, browser compatibility and screen resolution (computer screen size), the program was designed to make best use of this this information. For example, most of the computers that staff would access the website on were of a similar size screen, so I made sure that my website worked well for them. I also used my research on design principles to try and create a simple, clean interface that users with limited computer skills would easily be able to navigate around. The outcome was real, as it was used by the school to generate their coursebook this year. Following a 95% student completion rate of course selection many months earlier than previous years, the system (although it had some issues) was pronounced a success, and the school is looking to use it in the years to come. There are a number of steps I am looking to take in the future with this program including the potential sale to other schools, so they can take advantage of the features it has to offer.
USING IRON-STEEL INDUSTRIAL WASTE SLAGS AS A FERTILIZER
Steel slag, is received from iron and steel production facilities in Turkey, and is up to 25-30% from steel production. These couldn’t have been reclamation for any field of use and free stored in nature. When the structure of this slag examined, it was contained metallic formation (Fe2O3, Al2O3, MnO2, MgO2 etc.) and oxide compositions (SiO2, CaO2 etc.). The aim of this project is investigate metallic content of steel slag used as fertilizer in plants. For this purpose, slag is used to determine the physical and chemical characterization. Then, it is separated from metallic content by using shaking table and multi gravity separative (MGS) method. After these procedures, there are determinate 6 groups with different densities and different grit size. Element analysis was made of these groups by atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS) and ICP-OES system. In addition, mineral analysis was determined by XRD device. Thus, within each group minerals have been identified. Slag-soil mixture was prepared for determination the highest yield of using six different slag groups as fertilizer in the plant. Thus, corn crops were grown in different combinations. Then harvested corn plants and done soil analysis of the plants. As a result of experiments, percentage of the most effective slag-soil composition for corn was determined. The highest yield in the slag pot was determined the rate of %12.5 and coarse-grained. Ideally, the slag content found to be chinerals such as merwinite (3CaO-MgO-2SiO2), akermanite (2CaO-MgO-2SiO2), gehlenite (2CaO-Al2O3-SiO2). Thus, it was detected the steel slags can be used as feed material for plants. Hence by maintaining the ecological balance economic contribution to the country was achieved.