Proof-of-Concept

Biometry is an area in great expansion and is considered as possible solution to cases where high authentication parameters are required. Although this area is quite advanced in theoretical terms, using it in practical terms still carries some problems. The systems available still depend on a high cooperation level to achieve acceptable performance levels, which was the backdrop to the development of the following project. By studying the state of the art, we propose the creation of a new and less cooperative biometric system that reaches acceptable performance levels.A constante necessidade de parâmetros mais elevados de segurança, nomeadamente ao nível de autenticação, leva ao estudo biometria como possível solução. Actualmente os mecanismos existentes nesta área tem por base o conhecimento de algo que se sabe ”password” ou algo que se possui ”codigo Pin”. Contudo este tipo de informação é facilmente corrompida ou contornada. Desta forma a biometria é vista como uma solução mais robusta, pois garante que a autenticação seja feita com base em medidas físicas ou compartimentais que definem algo que a pessoa é ou faz (”who you are” ou ”what you do”). Sendo a biometria uma solução bastante promissora na autenticação de indivíduos, é cada vez mais comum o aparecimento de novos sistemas biométricos. Estes sistemas recorrem a medidas físicas ou comportamentais, de forma a possibilitar uma autenticação (reconhecimento) com um grau de certeza bastante considerável. O reconhecimento com base no movimento do corpo humano (gait), feições da face ou padrões estruturais da íris, são alguns exemplos de fontes de informação em que os sistemas actuais se podem basear. Contudo, e apesar de provarem um bom desempenho no papel de agentes de reconhecimento autónomo, ainda estão muito dependentes a nível de cooperação exigida. Tendo isto em conta, e tudo o que já existe no ramo do reconhecimento biometrico, esta área está a dar passos no sentido de tornar os seus métodos o menos cooperativos poss??veis. Possibilitando deste modo alargar os seus objectivos para além da mera autenticação em ambientes controlados, para casos de vigilância e controlo em ambientes não cooperativos (e.g. motins, assaltos, aeroportos). É nesta perspectiva que o seguinte projecto surge. Através do estudo do estado da arte, pretende provar que é possível criar um sistema capaz de agir perante ambientes menos cooperativos, sendo capaz de detectar e reconhecer uma pessoa que se apresente ao seu alcance.O sistema proposto PAIRS (Periocular and Iris Recognition Systema) tal como nome indica, efectua o reconhecimento através de informação extraída da íris e da região periocular (região circundante aos olhos). O sistema é construído com base em quatro etapas: captura de dados, pré-processamento, extração de características e reconhecimento. Na etapa de captura de dados, foi montado um dispositivo de aquisição de imagens com alta resolução com a capacidade de capturar no espectro NIR (Near-Infra-Red). A captura de imagens neste espectro tem como principal linha de conta, o favorecimento do reconhecimento através da íris, visto que a captura de imagens sobre o espectro visível seria mais sensível a variações da luz ambiente. Posteriormente a etapa de pré-processamento implementada, incorpora todos os módulos do sistema responsáveis pela detecção do utilizador, avaliação de qualidade de imagem e segmentação da íris. O modulo de detecção é responsável pelo desencadear de todo o processo, uma vez que esta é responsável pela verificação da exist?ncia de um pessoa em cena. Verificada a sua exist?ncia, são localizadas as regiões de interesse correspondentes ? íris e ao periocular, sendo também verificada a qualidade com que estas foram adquiridas. Concluídas estas etapas, a íris do olho esquerdo é segmentada e normalizada. Posteriormente e com base em vários descritores, é extraída a informação biométrica das regiões de interesse encontradas, e é criado um vector de características biométricas. Por fim, é efectuada a comparação dos dados biometricos recolhidos, com os já armazenados na base de dados, possibilitando a criação de uma lista com os níveis de semelhança em termos biometricos, obtendo assim um resposta final do sistema. Concluída a implementação do sistema, foi adquirido um conjunto de imagens capturadas através do sistema implementado, com a participação de um grupo de voluntários. Este conjunto de imagens permitiu efectuar alguns testes de desempenho, verificar e afinar alguns parâmetros, e proceder a optimização das componentes de extração de características e reconhecimento do sistema. Analisados os resultados foi possível provar que o sistema proposto tem a capacidade de exercer as suas funções perante condições menos cooperativas

Mean-Field-Type Games in Engineering

A mean-field-type game is a game in which the instantaneous payoffs and/or the state dynamics functions involve not only the state and the action profile but also the joint distributions of state-action pairs. This article presents some engineering applications of mean-field-type games including road traffic networks, multi-level building evacuation, millimeter wave wireless communications, distributed power networks, virus spread over networks, virtual machine resource management in cloud networks, synchronization of oscillators, energy-efficient buildings, online meeting and mobile crowdsensing.Comment: 84 pages, 24 figures, 183 references. to appear in AIMS 201

G-DaM: A Distributed Data Storage with Blockchain Framework for Management of Groundwater Quality Data

Groundwater overuse in different domains will eventually lead to global freshwater scarcity. To meet the anticipated demands, many governments worldwide are employing innovative and traditional techniques for forecasting groundwater availability by conducting research and studies. One challenging step for this type of study is collecting groundwater data from different sites and securely sending it to the nearby edges without exposure to hacking and data tampering. In the current paper, we send raw data formats from the Internet of Things to the Distributed Data Storage (DDS) and Blockchain (BC) edges. We use a distributed and decentralized architecture to store the statistics, perform double hashing, and implement access control through smart contracts. This work demonstrates a modern and innovative approach combining DDS and BC technologies to overcome traditional data sharing, and centralized storage, while addressing blockchain limitations. We have shown performance improvements with increased data quality and integrity

Burgas

Burgas regularly tops the list of best places to live in Bulgaria. Whether enjoying a walk through the resplendent Sea Garden, relaxing on the beautiful central city beach, or enjoying a drink and fresh grilled fish at one of the many outdoor bars and restaurants, it is easy to see why tourists like it so much. A key challenge for the city, however, is to extend this good feeling to the off-season, when tourists are few, the economy is less animated, and the central area is almost comatose after dark. The city aims to deliver this transformation with its smart city agenda

Designing Sound for Social Robots: Advancing Professional Practice through Design Principles

Sound is one of the core modalities social robots can use to communicate with the humans around them in rich, engaging, and effective ways. While a robot's auditory communication happens predominantly through speech, a growing body of work demonstrates the various ways non-verbal robot sound can affect humans, and researchers have begun to formulate design recommendations that encourage using the medium to its full potential. However, formal strategies for successful robot sound design have so far not emerged, current frameworks and principles are largely untested and no effort has been made to survey creative robot sound design practice. In this dissertation, I combine creative practice, expert interviews, and human-robot interaction studies to advance our understanding of how designers can best ideate, create, and implement robot sound. In a first step, I map out a design space that combines established sound design frameworks with insights from interviews with robot sound design experts. I then systematically traverse this space across three robot sound design explorations, investigating (i) the effect of artificial movement sound on how robots are perceived, (ii) the benefits of applying compositional theory to robot sound design, and (iii) the role and potential of spatially distributed robot sound. Finally, I implement the designs from prior chapters into humanoid robot Diamandini, and deploy it as a case study. Based on a synthesis of the data collection and design practice conducted across the thesis, I argue that the creation of robot sound is best guided by four design perspectives: fiction (sound as a means to convey a narrative), composition (sound as its own separate listening experience), plasticity (sound as something that can vary and adapt over time), and space (spatial distribution of sound as a separate communication channel). The conclusion of the thesis presents these four perspectives and proposes eleven design principles across them which are supported by detailed examples. This work contributes an extensive body of design principles, process models, and techniques providing researchers and designers with new tools to enrich the way robots communicate with humans

A systematic review of the effect of infrastructural interventions to promote cycling: strengthening causal inference from observational data

Abstract: Background: Previous reviews have suggested that infrastructural interventions can be effective in promoting cycling. Given inherent methodological complexities in the evaluation of such changes, it is important to understand whether study results obtained depend on the study design and methods used, and to describe the implications of the methods used for causality. The aims of this systematic review were to summarize the effects obtained in studies that used a wide range of study designs to assess the effects of infrastructural interventions on cycling and physical activity, and whether the effects varied by study design, data collection methods, or statistical approaches. Methods: Six databases were searched for studies that evaluated infrastructural interventions to promote cycling in adult populations, such as the opening of cycling lanes, or the expansion of a city-wide cycling network. Controlled and uncontrolled studies that presented data before and after the intervention were included. No language or date restrictions were applied. Data was extracted for any outcome presented (e.g. bikes counted on the new infrastructure, making a bike trip, cycling frequency, cycling duration), and for any purpose of cycling (e.g. total cycling, recreational cycling, cycling for commuting). Data for physical activity outcomes and equity effects was extracted, and quality assessment was conducted following previous methodologies and the UK Medical Research Council guidance on natural experiments. The PROGRESS-Plus framework was used to describe the impact on subgroups of the population. Studies were categorized by outcome, i.e. changes in cycling behavior, or usage of the cycling infrastructure. The relative change was calculated to derive a common outcome across various metrics and cycling purposes. The median relative change was presented to evaluate whether effects differed by methodological aspects. Results: The review included 31 studies and all were conducted within urban areas in high-income countries. Most of the evaluations found changes in favor of the intervention, showing that the number of cyclists using the facilities increased (median relative change compared to baseline: 62%; range: 4 to 438%), and to a lesser extent that cycling behavior increased (median relative change compared to baseline: 22%; range: − 21 to 262%). Studies that tested for statistical significance and studies that used subjective measurement methods (such as surveys and direct observations of cyclists) found larger changes than those that did not perform statistical tests, and those that used objective measurement methods (such as GPS and accelerometers, and automatic counting stations). Seven studies provided information on changes of physical activity behaviors, and findings were mixed. Three studies tested for equity effects following the opening of cycling infrastructure. Conclusions: Study findings of natural experiments evaluating infrastructural interventions to promote cycling depended on the methods used and the approach to analysis. Studies measuring cycling behavior were more likely to assess actual behavioral change that is most relevant for population health, as compared to studies that measured the use of cycling infrastructure. Triangulation of methods is warranted to overcome potential issues that one may encounter when evaluating environmental changes within the built environment. Trial registration: The protocol of this study was registered at PROSPERO (CRD42018091079)

Evaluating the effectiveness of rangeland resting initiatives in communal grazing systems in South Africa

In South Africa, rangeland environments provide ecosystem services upon which many broader natural processes and millions of livelihoods depend. Against a background of environmental degradation and widespread poverty, trade-offs between different services must be carefully managed. 17% of South African rangeland is held under communal tenure, bringing unique management challenges. This thesis investigates the efficacy of Conservation Agreements (CAs) - an example of a Payments for Ecosystems Services approach - in achieving positive environmental and social outcomes within three communities in the Mvenyane region of Eastern Cape, South Africa. It seeks to establish whether areas of rangeland in these communities were successfully rested, a key tenet of these agreements. Biomass sampled from designated rested areas was compared against samples from exclosures within these rested areas. Focus groups (FG) were also conducted with local signatory institutions known as Grazing Associations (GAs) to identify factors contributing to in/effective resting. The findings show that rangeland was not effectively rested in any of the communities studied. Insights from the New Institutionalist paradigm and the broader literature were used to analyse data from focus groups and a household survey. This indicated inadequate institutional capacity to deliver management strategies required to satisfy the terms of the CAs, and limitations in the pro-social outcomes the CAs were designed to provide. In particular, the design of CAs contributed to the exclusion of marginalised groups from GAs. More broadly, a dichotomy was revealed between the market-based approach underpinning the CA arrangements, and the priorities of many rangeland users. Further research into reasons for non-participation in GAs, and into other local institutions of power, is suggested, alongside key policy recommendations. <br/