Action recognition from RGB-D data

In recent years, action recognition based on RGB-D data has attracted increasing attention. Different from traditional 2D action recognition, RGB-D data contains extra depth and skeleton modalities. Different modalities have their own characteristics. This thesis presents seven novel methods to take advantages of the three modalities for action recognition. First, effective handcrafted features are designed and frequent pattern mining method is employed to mine the most discriminative, representative and nonredundant features for skeleton-based action recognition. Second, to take advantages of powerful Convolutional Neural Networks (ConvNets), it is proposed to represent spatio-temporal information carried in 3D skeleton sequences in three 2D images by encoding the joint trajectories and their dynamics into color distribution in the images, and ConvNets are adopted to learn the discriminative features for human action recognition. Third, for depth-based action recognition, three strategies of data augmentation are proposed to apply ConvNets to small training datasets. Forth, to take full advantage of the 3D structural information offered in the depth modality and its being insensitive to illumination variations, three simple, compact yet effective images-based representations are proposed and ConvNets are adopted for feature extraction and classification. However, both of previous two methods are sensitive to noise and could not differentiate well fine-grained actions. Fifth, it is proposed to represent a depth map sequence into three pairs of structured dynamic images at body, part and joint levels respectively through bidirectional rank pooling to deal with the issue. The structured dynamic image preserves the spatial-temporal information, enhances the structure information across both body parts/joints and different temporal scales, and takes advantages of ConvNets for action recognition. Sixth, it is proposed to extract and use scene flow for action recognition from RGB and depth data. Last, to exploit the joint information in multi-modal features arising from heterogeneous sources (RGB, depth), it is proposed to cooperatively train a single ConvNet (referred to as c-ConvNet) on both RGB features and depth features, and deeply aggregate the two modalities to achieve robust action recognition

2011 Annual Report

https://digital.sandiego.edu/law_cai_annual/1013/thumbnail.jp

Advancing the Criminal Justice Pillar of Transitional Justice in Challenging Contexts::Preconditions for successful criminal justice

A distinctive characteristic of transitional justice is to seek mutually reinforcing advances across each of its dimensions: truth, justice, reparations and guarantees of non-repetition, considering which course(s) of action can contribute to the greatest forward movement overall, while avoiding possible backsliding. This interdependence means that justice cannot be treated as an agenda to be pursued separately from truth, reparation and guarantees of non-repetition, which may influence how justice decisions need to be defined, viewed and implemented.This document, which was prepared on request to inform considerations for review of the UN Secretary General's Guidance Note on TJ, focuses on preconditions and initial considerations regarding criminal justice in domestic accountability spaces. The paper contends that narrow “norm transfer” approaches are unlikely to succeed, with detailed country diagnostics needed to craft workable, locally grounded appreciations of how the best interests of justice can be served in a particular setting at a given tim

Strategies for Recruiting Cybersecurity Professionals in the Financial Service Industry

The cybersecurity market is the fastest growing market in the United States; as such, leaders in financial institutions recognize their businesses are vulnerable, as money is accessible within computerized banking systems. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore what strategies financial service leaders- use to recruit cybersecurity professionals. The conceptual framework for this study was the hierarchy of needs and stakeholder management theory. Data collection involved company archival documents and semistructured, open-ended interviews with 5 financial service leaders in the Midlands area of South Carolina who recruited skilled cybersecurity professionals to support long-term business sustainability. Coding, clustering, and theme development evolved through coding key words and actions, drawing ideas together into clusters, and evolving the prominent ideas into themes. During data analysis, the theoretical propositions underwent a sequential process, which included coding the data by hand. The use of member checking and methodological triangulation increased the trustworthiness of the study. Analysis revealed 3 themes: increased training, broadened social networking, and improved communication. Financial service leaders can use training to educate and recruit new cybersecurity professionals. Also, findings suggest the need for training to improve social networking and communicate as a team to increase profitability. The findings from this study may contribute to social change by helping business owners recruit skilled professionals to prevent or reduce cybersecurity threats

European Regionalisation of Security: Case study: NATO - Unity or Dissolution?

The aim of the presented dissertation is to provide a reader with a complex and comprehensive analysis of the phenomenon of the European regionalisation in the field of security in the in the 21st century. In order to further delineate the topic and narrow a wide scope of the possible analysis, the final project is written on the basis of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) as a case study with major focus on two regional groupings – the Baltic States and the Visegrad Group as case objects. Due to the limited length of the work, these two case objects are analysed with regard to their position to the threat perception, Russia, Russia, new security threats and other pressing issues as these define divergent views inside NATO. The thesis comprises six main chapters aiming at a consistent and complex picture of the elaborated topic. The first one focuses on the research basis of the work aiming at introducing the topic, its objective and structure is followed by a chapter focusing on methodology and theories applicable. The third chapter characterises NATO as an organisation together with the divisions of the member states. Chapter number four deals with the complexity of the current geopolitical situation. Afterwards, the case objects are analyzed by using predominantly threat perception, approach to Russia and to nuclear weapons as study objects as substantial part of chapter five. The analysis forms the fifth and the sixth chapter of the thesis. The value added of the thesis stems from the future scenarios predicting the development within NATO and the European regional groupings in general and, as such, is elaborated in the final two chapters. By using wide scope of methods, tools and techniques, the thesis aims to draw prognosis and perspective of NATO development based on the case study and case objects.O objetivo deste projeto final é definir as bases para uma tese que irá fornecer ao leitor uma análise complexa e compreensível sobre o fenómeno da regionalização europeia no campo da segurança no século XXI. A fim de delinear o tópico e encurtar o largo espetro da possível análise, o projeto final é escrito na base da Organização do Tratado do Atlântico Norte (NATO) como caso de estudo com o foco principal em dois grupos regionais – os estados Bálticos e o grupo de Visegrád como objetos de caso. Devido à extensão limitada do trabalho, os dois objetos de caso são analisados no tocante à sua posição sobre armas nucleares, Rússia, novas ameaças à segurança e outros tópicos preocupantes, uma vez que estes definem as suas visões divergentes dentro da NATO.O projeto final consiste em seis capítulos principais, visando uma imagem consistente e complexa sobre o tópico elaborado. O primeiro, que tem como finalidade introduzir o tópico, é objetivo e a estrutura é seguida por um capítulo focado na metodologia e teorias aplicadas. O terceiro capítulo caracteriza a NATO como uma organização assim como as divisões dos estados membros. O quarto capítulo é dedicado à complexidade da situação geopolítica atual. Depois, os objetos de caso vão ser analisados, usando predominantemente a perceção de uma ameaça, neste caso, a aproximação à Rússia e armas nucleares relativamente a objetos de estudo como parte substancial do capítulo cinco. Esta análise vai formar os quinto e sexto capítulos da tese. O contributo prestado por esta tese consiste na elaboração de cenários futuros que preveem o desenvolvimento dentro da NATO e dos grupos europeus regionais em geral , o que é feito nos dois últimos capítulos. Ao usar um largo espetro de métodos, instrumentos e técnicas, a tese visa desenhar um prognóstico e perspetiva sobre o desenvolvimento da NATO, com base nos casos de estudo e objetos de caso

Multi-scale imaging of porous media and flow simulation at the pore scale

In the last decade, the fundamental understanding of pore-scale flow in porous media has been undergoing a revolution through the recent development of new pore-scale imaging techniques, reconstruction of three-dimensional pore space images, and advances in the computational methods for solving complex fluid flow equations directly or indirectly on the reconstructed three-dimensional pore space images. Important applications include hydrocarbon recovery from - and CO2 storage in - reservoir rock formations. Of particular importance is the consideration of carbonate reservoirs, as our understanding of carbonates with respect to geometry and fluid flow processes is still very limited in comparison with sandstone reservoirs. This thesis consists of work mainly performed within the Qatar Carbonates and Carbon Storage Research Centre (QCCSRC) project, focusing on development of three dimensional imaging techniques for accurately characterizing and predicting flow/transport properties in both complex benchmark carbonate and sandstone rock samples. Firstly, the thesis presents advances in the application of Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy (CLSM), including the improvement of existing sample preparation techniques and a step-by step guide for imaging heterogeneous rock samples exhibiting sub-micron resolution pores. A novel method has been developed combining CLSM with sequential grinding and polishing to obtain deep 3D pore-scale images. This overcomes a traditional limitation of CLSM, where the depth information in a single slice is limited by attenuation of the laser light. Other features of this new method include a wide field of view at high resolution to arbitrary depth; fewer grinding steps than conventional serial sectioning using 2D microscopy; the image quality does not degrade with sample size, as e.g. in micro-computed tomography (micro- CT) imaging. Secondly, it presents two fundamental issues – Representative Element of Volume (REV) and scale dependency which are addressed with qualitative and quantitative solutions for rocks increasing in heterogeneity from beadpacks to sandpacks to sandstone to carbonate rocks. The REV is predicted using the mathematical concept of the Convex Hull, CH, and the Lorenz coefficient, LC, to investigate the relation between two macroscopic properties simultaneously, in this case porosity and absolute permeability. The effect of voxel resolution is then studied on the segmented macro-pore phase (macro-porosity) and intermediate phase (micro-porosity) and the fluid flow properties of the connected macro-pore space using lattice-Boltzmann (LB) and pore network (PN) modelling methods. A numerical coarsening (up-scaling) algorithm have also been applied to reduce the computational power and time required to accurately predict the flow properties using the LB and PN methods. Finally, a quantitative methodology has been developed to predict petrophysical properties, including porosity and absolute permeability for X-ray medical computed tomography (CT) carbonate core images of length 120 meters using image based analysis. The porosity is calculated using a simple segmentation based on intensity grey values and the absolute permeability using the Kozeny-Carman equation. The calculated petrophysical properties were validated with the experimental plug data.Open Acces

BEYOND ALL LIMITS : Procedings on International Conference on Sustainability in Architecture, Planning, and Design : 11-12, 13 May 2022

[Italiano]: Il volume raccoglie gli atti della seconda edizione del convegno “BEYOND ALL LIMITS. International Conference on Sustainability in Architecture, Planning, and Design”, tenutosi nei giorni 11 e 12 maggio 2022, presso il Complesso del Belvedere di San Leucio, sede di Officina Vanvitelli. Il convegno è stato promosso e organizzato dal Dipartimento di Architettura e Disegno Industriale dell'Università degli Studi della Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, in partnership con la Faculty of Architecture della Çankaya University di Ankara e la Faculty of Engineering della University of Strathclyde di Glasgow. L’obiettivo principale di questo convegno scientifico e multidisciplinare, che ha interessato i campi dell'architettura, della pianificazione e del design, è stato quello di affrontare il tema della sostenibilità all’interno dell'attuale dibattito internazionale scaturito dal New European Bauhaus (NEB)./[English]: This volume collects the Proceedings of the second edition of the conference “BEYOND ALL LIMITS. International Conference on Sustainability in Architecture, Planning, and Design”, held on May 11 and 12, 2022, at the San Leucio Belvedere Complex, home of Officina Vanvitelli. The conference was sponsored and organized by the Department of Architecture and Industrial Design of the University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, in partnership with the Faculty of Architecture of Çankaya University in Ankara and the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow. The main objective of this scientific and multidisciplinary conference, which covered the fields of architecture, planning and design, was to address the issue of sustainability within the current international debate that has arisen from the New European Bauhaus (NEB)