Switzerland

Reinforcement-Learning-Based Drone Racing for Nanocopters Using a Self-Developed Motion Capture System

Robotics and Intelligent Machines

Autonomous drone research has become increasingly important, yet there are many burdens which make its access limited. Especially for autonomous drone racing, high-end motion-capture systems…

Simple-VIII: Designing an 8-bit Computer Architecture for End-to-End Open Source ASIC Implementation

Embedded Systems

Modern semiconductors are typically closed-source and lack transparency in design and production. The resulting inability to verify chips allows the introduction of undetectable hardware bac…

Water Absorption Capacity of Vines: Depending on Rootstock and Geological Soil Type

Plant Sciences

This study investigated the water absorption capacity of grapevines in the Bündner Herrschaft, a viticultural region in the canton of Grisons, Switzerland. It examined how soil types influen…

A Novel Union-Find-Based Decoding Algorithm for Scalable Real-Time Syndrome Processing in Quantum Error Correction

Systems Software

Fault tolerant quantum computing (FTQC) provides huge promises for industrial and scientific progress, such as in drug discovery and cryptography. Part of the technology stack required for F…

Development of an Autonomous Robot Arm System for Playing Ping Pong

Robotics and Intelligent Machines

This project deals with the development and construction of an autonomous robot arm with a camera system. Catching a ball using a hoop and volleying a ping pong ball were chosen as example a…

Modeling Stock Price Dynamics With Student-t Random Walks: A Segment-Matching Approach for Improved Financial Analysis

Mathematics

Financial models for stock prices play a crucial role in maintaining economic stability by enabling risk assessment, informed investing, and regulatory oversight. However, many conventional…

Data Set Filtering for Microlensing-Effect Identification

Physics and Astronomy

The effects of spacetime curvature, described in General Relativity, are made visible to us through gravitational lensing phenomena. Microlensing events (ML events) represent a type of gravi…

Development and Construction of a TTL Processor

Embedded Systems

Purpose: The purpose of this project was to develop and construct a functional 32-bit processor capable of executing programs generated by a compiler, controlling a color display, and perfor…

The Development and Evaluation of 3D Printed, Hygromorphic, Biodegradable and Self-Locomotive Soft Robots (Hygrobots), as a Powerful Tool for Environmental Monitoring and Protection

Materials Science

Currently, environmental monitoring is time-consuming, requires training, produces pollution and, due to human interference, distorted results. This is why autonomous, biodegradable, and sel…

Characterization of MAS1 Tertiary Structure

Computational Biology and Bioinformatics

Hyperinflammation is the most severe clinical phase of Covid-19 disease and is characterized by high blood pressure in the lungs, which facilitates microthrombus formation, eventually leadin…

Direct Air Capture: Construction, Testing and Optimizing of a Prototype

Environmental Engineering

Purpose The emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere increases the greenhouse effect and warms the earth. In addition to reducing CO2 emissions, it is possible to actively remove the g…

Application and Comparison of Deep Learning Methods in the Prediction of RNA Sequence Degradation and Stability

Biochemistry

Synthesis and efficient implementation mRNA strands has been shown to have wide utility, especially recently in the development of COVID vaccines. However, the intrinsic chemical stability o…

Development and Construction of a Low-Cost Six-Axis Robot Arm

Robotics and Intelligent Machines Second Award

Is it possible to develop and build a six-axis robot arm as a high school student and just with knowledge acquired from the internet? This paper covers my research on a low-cost robot arm th…

Development of a Rotor with Improved Aerodynamics to Propel a Quadcopter - Design and Manufacture According to the Laws of the Propeller Theory by Betz and Schmitz

Engineering Mechanics Third Award

The goal of my paper was to manufacture a rotor for DJI’s Mavic Pro quadcopter. Using the laws of the Propeller Theory by Betz and Schmitz, I examined the aerodynamic characteristics of exis…

Using Fluorescence Imaging to Investigate the Organisation of Human Brain Organoids

Biomedical Engineering

The challenges to study the function of the brain, one of the most complex organs in the human body, have strengthened the need of a new model system. The most promising technology uses huma…

Arsenic Concentration in Drinking Water and Risk for Prostate Cancer in the Swiss Canton of Grisons: An Ecological Study

Biomedical and Health Sciences

Arsenic is a known carcinogen, which can be ingested through contaminated drinking water. Most studies in the high-level arsenic range have found a significant correlation between arsenic in…

Comparison of Two Tick Populations in Domat/Ems (GR, Switzerland) on a Hiking-Trail and on a Golf Course According to the Amount of Ticks, Hosts and Infections with the Pathogens of Tick-borne Encephalitis, Lyme Bor-reliosis and Tularemia

Microbiology

There are several diseases that can be passed on from ticks to humans. Three of these diseases are tick-borne encephalitis, Lyme borreliosis and tularemia. Lyme borreliosis occurs in many pa…

Forecasting International Space Station Transits of the Sun

Physics and Astronomy

As the ISS orbits the Earth, when it passes between an Earth borne observer and the Sun it performs a transit. Previously no model existed for extremely precise forecasting of such Transits.…

Silica Aerogels and Silica Aerogel-Carbon Composites for Adsorption of Micropollutants

Chemistry

Unmodified silica aerogel and modified silica aerogel, which was combined with two forms of carbon (graphite and activated carbon) to create new materials with theoretical enhanced adsorptio…

Glycosylation of the Cardiac Ion Channel Protein TRPM4 in Rat and Mouse Tissues

Biochemistry

The monovalent cation channel Transient Potential Melastatin 4 (TRPM4) depolarizes cells upon activation and is capable of initiating diverse intracellular signaling pathways. TRPM4 mutants…

Spooky Actions at a Distance – On the Problem of Quantum Correlations

Physics and Astronomy

The purpose of this research work in the field of quantum theory is to clarify the nature of the two particle quantum correlation phenomenon. The work is divided in two parts. The first part…

Heart Donation after Circulatory Determination of Death: The Impact of Fatty Acids on Hemodynamic Recovery and a Future Outlook

Translational Medical Science

Background: Donation after circulatory determination of death (DCD) could improve donor heart availability, which currently limits transplantation. However, reluctance to this approach arise…

Planning, Building & Programming an Autonomous Robot

Robotics and Intelligent Machines

How do you take the idea of an autonomous robot and develop it from a concept into a functioning prototype? This question kick-started the project. The autonomous vehicle’s design objectives…

Waterrocket Launcher – Automated (WRL)

Goal Our goal was to fully automate the process of filling and launching a water rocket. Also we tried to calculate the behavior of the rocket in the air. Methodology In our project WRL we w…

A Study on Quantifying Personal UV Exposure, Vitamin D Status and Their Relationship within a Group of High School Students in an Alpine Environment

Vitamin D's essential role in human health is increasingly being recognized. However, the quantitative relationship between the cutaneous synthesis of vitamin D and personal UV exposure is u…

Detection of Candidatus Neoehrlichia mikurensis in Ticks of the Grisons Rhine Valley

Biomedical Engineering

Candidatus Neoehrlichia mikurensis - This name was given to a bacterium first described in Japan in 2004. Five years later scientists in Zurich, Switzerland discovered its human pathogenicit…

An Innovative Research about Reynoutria japonica (Houtt.): Distribution, Biochemical Analysis and Therapeutic Perspectives

Plant Sciences

Reynoutria japonica (Houtt.) is an invasive species widespred in Europe. The aim of this research is to review the information about RJ and to identify metabolites such as phenols and flavon…