This thesis addresses the design of nonlinear navigation systems for autonomous vehicles, following two main approaches: Kalman filter based estimators, and Lyapunov theory based nonlinear observers. The proposed Kalman filter architectures are designed for accurate position and attitude estimation using low-cost sensor suites. An extended Kalman filter is adopted to merge a high accuracy inert...

Heparin is a highly sulfated glycosaminoglycan that is used as an important clinical anticoagulant. Monitoring and control of the heparin level in a patient's blood during and after surgery is essential, but current clinical methods are limited to indirect and off-line assays. We have developed a silicon field-effect sensor for direct detection of heparin by its intrinsic negative charge. The s...

A new phosphorescent zinc sensor (ZIrF) was constructed, based on an Ir(III) complex bearing two 2-(2,4-difluorophenyl)pyridine (dfppy) cyclometalating ligands and a neutral 1,10-phenanthroline (phen) ligand. A zinc-specific di(2-picolyl)amine (DPA) receptor was introduced at the 4-position of the phen ligand via a methylene linker. The cationic Ir(III) complex exhibited dual phosphorescence ba...

RNA polymerase III (Pol III) synthesizes short noncoding RNAs, many of which are essential for translation. Accordingly, Pol III activity is tightly regulated with cell growth and proliferation by factors such as MYC, RB1, TRP53, and MAF1. MAF1 is a repressor of Pol III transcription whose activity is controlled by phosphorylation; in particular, it is inactivated through phosphorylation by the...

A new optical carbon dioxide sensor based on the change in glow intensity of the Europium-III complex, caused by CO2 absorption to various pH-indicators (thymol blue, phenol red and cresol red) of carbon dioxide was developed, and its sensitive properties were

We report here the development of a novel disposable-type glucose enzyme sensor based on a screen-printed carbon electrode (SPCE) employing a catalytic subunit of FAD-dependent glucose dehydrogenase (FADGDH) and a Rucomplex (hexaammineruthenium (III) chloride) as the electron mediator. The whole blood glucose measurement was achieved in 2 seconds using a 500 nl sample of the range of 100-800 mg...

Microbial DNA in the cytosol induces production of interferon-beta (IFN-beta) and an innate immune response. Chiu et al. (2009) now implicate cytosolic DNA-dependent RNA polymerase III as the DNA sensor linking DNA release by pathogenic bacteria and viruses in the host cell cytosol to IFN-beta production and innate immunity.

A generalised registration technique based on mixed-mode measurements from two or more spatially distributed sensors is presented. The algorithm outputs include maximum likelihood estimates of (i) registration parameters, (ii) registered sensor measurements and (iii) registered target location estimates expressed in a common coordinate system. Numerical results are presented for two sensors wit...

Combining fluorescent zinc sensors with the facile syntheses and biological targeting capabilities of peptides, we created green- and blue-emitting probes that, (i) are readily prepared on the solid-phase, (ii) retain the photophysical and zinc-binding properties of the parent sensor, and (iii) can be directed to the extracellular side of plasma membranes in live cells for detection of mobile z...