Reconstruction of interior walls from point cloud data with min-hashed J-Linkage

The automatic reconstruction of the walls of an interior environment is a fundamental task in any "scan2BIM" application. In this work, we address this problem resorting to an original and improved version of J-Linkage that leverages on the min-Hash technique to boost the efficiency without sacrificing the accuracy. A framework to automatically and robustly extract floor plans from large-scale point clouds is described and validated on real-word publicly available data

Internet of Things From Hype to Reality

The Internet of Things (IoT) has gained significant mindshare, let alone attention, in academia and the industry especially over the past few years. The reasons behind this interest are the potential capabilities that IoT promises to offer. On the personal level, it paints a picture of a future world where all the things in our ambient environment are connected to the Internet and seamlessly communicate with each other to operate intelligently. The ultimate goal is to enable objects around us to efficiently sense our surroundings, inexpensively communicate, and ultimately create a better environment for us: one where everyday objects act based on what we need and like without explicit instructions

Climate change 2013: the physical science basis

This report argues that it is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century. This is an an unedited version of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change\u27s Working Group I contribution to the Fifth Assessment Report following the release of its Summary for Policymakers on 27 September 2013.  The full Report is posted in the version distributed to governments on 7 June 2013 and accepted by Working Group I and the Panel on 27 September 2013. It includes the Technical Summary, 14 chapters and an Atlas of Global and Regional Climate Projections. Following copy-editing, layout, final checks for errors and adjustments for changes in the Summary for Policymakers, the full Report will be published online in January 2014 and in book form by Cambridge University Press a few months later

PLACING THE EVOLUTIONARY HISTORY OF \u3ci\u3eDESMOGNATHUS\u3c/i\u3e SALAMANDERS IN CONTEXT: A PHYLOGEOGRAPHIC APPROACH

Patterns of genetic variation do not arise in a vacuum but are instead shaped by the interplay between evolutionary forces and ecological constraints. Here, I use a phylogeographic approach to examine the role that ecology played in lineage divergence in the Desmognathus quadramaculatus species complex (Family: Plethodontidae), which consists of three nominal species: D. quadramaculatus, D. marmoratus, and D. folkertsi. Previous phylogenetic studies have shown that individuals from these species do not form clades based on phenotype. My approach to reconciling phylogenetic discordance was two-fold, using (1) genome-wide markers to provide insight into the relationships among lineages and (2) geographic and climate data to provide context for patterns of genetic diversity. First, I obtained genome-wide nuclear markers using double-digest restriction-site associated DNA sequencing (ddRAD) to examine whether two morphologically divergent species, D. marmoratus and D. quadramaculatus, represent independently evolving lineages. Phylogenetic, population structure, and model testing analyses all confirmed that D. marmoratus and D. quadramaculatus do not group based on phenotype. Instead, I found that there were two cryptic genetic lineages (Nantahala and Pisgah) that each contained both phenotypes. Additionally, ecological niche modeling showed that the two genetic lineages primarily occupy geographic areas with significantly different climates, suggesting that climate may have played a role in divergence. Next, I assembled loci from publicly available sequencing data using a draft transcriptome of Desmognathus fuscus as a reference to assess the three nominal species in the quadramaculatus species complex across their entire range. I used phylogenetic and population structure analyses, alongside haplowebs and conspecificity matrices, to determine if the loci supported the hypothesis that the phenotypes represent multiple independently evolving lineages within the broader genetic clades found in the previous chapter. I found that the loci were not informative enough to determine whether the phenotypes had a genetic basis in Pisgah, but did support genetic divergence between phenotypes in Nantahala. Finally, I used ecological niche models (ENMs) and resistance modeling to place the genetic results and phenotypic diversity within the context of time and space. I found that though the quadramaculatus and marmoratus phenotypes were nearly indistinguishable in niche space in the present day, they were projected to occupy different geographic areas in the past and future. The southern portion of the study area had areas of high habitat suitability from the Last Glacial Maximum (~22 kya) to the present, which aligns with the higher genetic divergence between groups in Nantahala. Anthropogenic land use changes reduced habitat availability but likely did not drive genetic divergence in the past, and may be of more consequence to genetic diversity than climate change over the next 50 years. Like many taxa that underwent adaptive radiations, the evolutionary history of Desmognathus has been obfuscated by high rates of within-species phenotypic diversity and shared morphology between distantly related lineages. My findings emphasize the importance of interrogating complex patterns of genetic variation within the context of the dynamic, heterogeneous landscapes in which they arise

The Early Neolithic of the Eastern Fertile Crescent

The Eastern Fertile Crescent region of western Iran and eastern Iraq hosted major developments in the transition from hunter-forager to farmer-herder lifestyles through the Early Neolithic period, 10,000-7000 BC. Within the scope of the Central Zagros Archaeological Project, excavations have been conducted since 2012 at two Early Neolithic sites in the Kurdistan region of Iraq: Bestansur and Shimshara. Bestansur represents an early stage in the transition to sedentary, farming life, where the inhabitants pursued a mixed strategy of hunting, foraging, herding and cultivating, maximizing the new opportunities afforded by the warmer, wetter climate of the Early Holocene. They also constructed substantial buildings of mudbrick, including a major building with a minimum of 65 human individuals, mainly infants, buried under its floor in association with hundreds of beads. These human remains provide new insights into mortuary practices, demography, diet and disease

Proceedings of the 2018 Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering (CSME) International Congress

Published proceedings of the 2018 Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering (CSME) International Congress, hosted by York University, 27-30 May 2018

CITIES: Energetic Efficiency, Sustainability; Infrastructures, Energy and the Environment; Mobility and IoT; Governance and Citizenship

This book collects important contributions on smart cities. This book was created in collaboration with the ICSC-CITIES2020, held in San José (Costa Rica) in 2020. This book collects articles on: energetic efficiency and sustainability; infrastructures, energy and the environment; mobility and IoT; governance and citizenship