Real-time crowd density mapping using a novel sensory fusion model of infrared and visual systems

Crowd dynamic management research has seen significant attention in recent years in research and industry in an attempt to improve safety level and management of large scale events and in large public places such as stadiums, theatres, railway stations, subways and other places where high flow of people at high densities is expected. Failure to detect the crowd behaviour at the right time could lead to unnecessary injuries and fatalities. Over the past decades there have been many incidents of crowd which caused major injuries and fatalities and lead to physical damages. Examples of crowd disasters occurred in past decades include the tragedy of Hillsborough football stadium at Sheffield where at least 93 football supporters have been killed and 400 injured in 1989 in Britain's worst-ever sporting disaster (BBC, 1989). Recently in Cambodia a pedestrians stampede during the Water Festival celebration resulted in 345 deaths and 400 injuries (BBC, 2010) and in 2011 at least 16 people were killed and 50 others were injured in a stampede in the northern Indian town of Haridwar (BBC, 2011). Such disasters could be avoided or losses reduced by using different technologies. Crowd simulation models have been found effective in the prediction of potential crowd hazards in critical situations and thus help in reducing fatalities. However, there is a need to combine the advancement in simulation with real time crowd characterisation such as the estimation of real time density in order to provide accurate prognosis in crowd behaviour and enhance crowd management and safety, particularly in mega event such as the Hajj. This paper addresses the use of novel sensory technology in order to estimate people’s dynamic density du ring one of the Hajj activities. The ultimate goal is that real time accurate estimation of density in different areas within the crowd could help to improve the decision making process and provide more accurate prediction of the crowd dynamics. This paper investigates the use of infrared and visual cameras supported by auxiliary sensors and artificial intelligence to evaluate the accuracy in estimating crowd density in an open space during Muslims Pilgrimage to Makkah (Mecca)

Impact of climate change in urban meteorology and energy demand

Abstract. Climate change large impacts on urban scales. Local meteorology, air pollution and energy demand of the buildings are areas affected directly by the climate change. To quantify the future impacts, this research make a dynamical downscaling from global climate data to urban high spatial resolution to produce weather data and this information can be used in the energy demand models as EnergyPlus. Dynamical downscaling process has been implemented with the mesoscale model WRF-Chem (NOAA, US) up to 1 km and MICROSYS-CFD (UPM, ES) model from very high spatial resolution. A medium office building was simulated using meteorological downscaled datasets for Madrid. In this contribution we have used global climate models RCP scenarios to produce climate scenarios at urban scale with 10 m spatial resolution. We will show the results and the impacts for future (2030, 2050 and 2100) RCP IPCC 4.5 and 8.5 climate scenarios compare with the 2011 control year information for climate and buildings energy demand over Madrid, Milan and London (KensingtonChelsea area)

Emissions trading as a policy option for greenhouse gas mitigation in South Africa

An emissions trading scheme (ETS) is based on the allocation of allowances to emit pollutants, which in the case of climate change are greenhouse gases. Allowances are allocated to a defined set of emitters, who are required to hold sufficient allowances to cover their emissions at the end of a compliance period, or face penalties. Scarcity is created in the scheme through the allocation of fewer allowances than emissions, resulting in emitters having to choose between reducing their emissions in line with their allowance allocations, or purchasing additional allowances to cover their excess emissions levels

Utilization of Discrete Event Simulation in Business Processes Management Projects: a Literature Review

Discrete event simulation (DES) software is often used in business process management (BPM) projects, in order to support modeling, change and automatization of process modeling. However, the current research lacks systematic overview of the benefits and pitfalls of using DES software for BPM. The goal of this paper is to provide a systematic analysis of research paper related to the operations research, computer science, business and management that report the usage of DES in BPM projects, in order to shed some light in this area. Results of this analysis could be useful to academics and business practitioners in their projects

Effects of climate change on the health of citizens modelling urban weather and air pollution

A dynamical downscaling tool has been implemented to understand the impacts of global climate on citizens health. We have used the WRF-Chem mesoscale model (NOAA, USA) to produce information covering Europe with 25 km of spatial resolution and two nested domains with 5 km and 1 km of spatial resolution over London. Finally, detailed simulations are carried out using the MICROSYS-CFD model to take into account the effects of urban buildings on the urban atmosphere in the Kensington and Chelsea area. The tool produces very high spatial air quality and meteorological data (50 m) and also temporal resolution (1 h) to estimate health impacts in the short term, using exposure-response functions extracted from epidemiological studies. The comparison shows an acceptable agreement of the modelled data with the measurements. The effects on the health of citizens by temperature change in the future are more important than by changes in atmospheric pollutant concentrations. The maps show how the effects depend on the city's geometry and how the tool can highlight the most vulnerable areas to help to design plans and implement strategic measures to mitigate the effects of global climate change on people's health. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Sviluppo di una Metodologia per la Selezione e il Controllo Qualità di Ventilatori per Cappe Aspiranti in Linea di Produzione Mediante Analisi Vibrazionale

Fin dai primi anni del secolo scorso i ricercatori hanno condotto ricerche e sviluppato soluzioni per diagnosticare l’insorgere di difettosità nei motori ad induzione per aumentarne l’affidabilità e la qualità. La letteratura è ricca di esempi nei quali vengono utilizzate le più conosciute tecniche di elaborazione del segnale e negli ultimi anni l’utilizzo di algoritmi di intelligenza artificiale ha portato ad ulteriori miglioramenti nella prevenzione dei guasti e delle loro conseguenze. In questo lavoro viene presentato un approccio differente per diagnosticare la presenza di difettosità nei motori ad induzione, una metodologia originale per il tipo di applicazione basata sul calcolo delle divergenze statistiche tra distribuzioni di probabilità e sul calcolo delle entropie e della cross-entropia. Vengono proposti e confrontati cinque diversi metodi per ottenere le distribuzioni di probabilità dai segnali misurati, due differenti formulazioni per il calcolo delle divergenze e quattro per il calcolo dell’entropia. L’efficacia e la maggiore robustezza degli indicatori calcolati con il metodo proposto rispetto ai tradizionali indicatori statistici sono dimostrate tramite le analisi condotte sulle misure accelerometriche acquisite durante lo sviluppo della procedura per il controllo qualità dei ventilatori per cappe aspiranti uscenti dalla linea di produzione di SIT S.p.A. Ne viene presentata inoltre una versione modificata utilizzando la trasmissibilità del banco di collaudo come filtro inverso, soluzione che la rende efficace anche quando applicata alle misure acquisite dal sensore accelerometrico di linea. La procedura proposta ha dimostrato capacità di classificazione con un accuratezza superiore al 95%. Infine, sfruttando le potenzialità del machine learning, viene proposta una soluzione che, utilizzando un Autoencoder, è in grado di migliorare i risultati ottenuti in precedenza, raggiungendo valori analoghi come accuratezza ma migliori in termini di falsi negativi.Since the early years of the last century, researchers have conducted research and developed solutions to diagnose the onset of defects in induction motors to increase their reliability and quality. The literature is full of examples in which the well-known signal processing techniques are used and in recent years the use of artificial intelligence algorithms has led to further improvements in the prevention of faults and their consequences. In this work a different approach is presented to diagnose the presence of defects in induction motors, an original methodology for the type of application based on the calculation of statistical divergences between probability distributions and on the calculation of entropies and cross-entropy. Five different methods for obtaining probability distributions from measured signals are proposed and compared, two different formulations for calculating divergences and four for calculating entropy. The effectiveness and greater robustness of the indicators calculated with the proposed method compared to traditional statistical indicators are demonstrated through the analyses conducted on the accelerometric measurements acquired during the development of the procedure for the quality control of the fans for extractor hoods leaving the production line of SIT S.p.A. A modified version is also presented using the transmissibility of the production bench as an inverse filter, a solution that makes it effective even when applied to the measurements acquired by the accelerometric sensor positioned on the production station. The proposed procedure has demonstrated classification capabilities with an accuracy greater than 95%. Finally, exploiting the potential of machine learning, a solution is proposed which, using an Autoencoder, is able to improve the results previously obtained, reaching similar values in terms of accuracy but better in terms of false negatives

New approaches to anti-multipactor coatings for space applications

Tesis Doctoral inédita leída en la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Facultad de Ciencias, Departamento de Física Aplicada. Fecha de lectura: 08 de febrero de 2016El efecto Multipactor es un fenómeno perjudicial en dispositivos de alta potencia de RF en vacío de gran importancia tecnológica, industrial y económica. Es un viejo problema en la industria espacial, en los aceleradores de partículas de gran energía, en dispositivos toroidales de energía termo-nuclear, en generadores de potencia de RF, y muchas tecnologías electrónicas avanzadas. El efecto o descarga Multipactor se genera y alimenta por la Emisión de Electrones Secundarios (SEE) en las superficies del dispositivo. Por eso siempre su solución o mitigación pasa por reducir esta SEE de los materiales usados en las partes críticas del dispositivo. Los laboratorios de los aceleradores SLAC, CERN, KEK,… y ESTEC y VSC de ESA han dedicado un gran esfuerzo a este problema. Nuestro grupo colabora con los grupos en SLAC, CERN y ESA. El objetivo final y global del trabajo de esta tesis doctoral era el desarrollo y aplicación de recubrimientos anti-multipactor para aplicaciones espaciales de alta potencia de RF, para mitigar o suprimir la descarga multipactor con recubrimientos de baja SEE, estables en el aire y con baja resistencia superficial en la banda Ku (alrededor de 12 GHz). La búsqueda de materiales con baja SEE entra en conflicto con otras propiedades requeridas estrictamente para su aplicación en el espacio. Estas son principalmente muy buena conductividad eléctrica y gran estabilidad en el aire. Esta última está claramente en conflicto con la baja SEE y la alta conductividad. Este enfoque basado en las propiedades físico-químicas de las superficies se ha agotado sin encontrar una buena solución al Multipactor. A partir de en algunas observaciones tanto de nuestro laboratorio como de otros y que no habían sido consideradas en toda sus implicaciones, esta tesis doctoral se basa en varias hipótesis de trabajo importantes y novedosas: i) los diferentes requerimientos que no se pueden cumplir con un solo material se pueden satisfacer por capas de diferentes materiales haciendo uso de las diferentes escalas y penetraciones de las diferentes propiedades requeridas (modelo de capas del recubrimiento). ii) la rugosidad superficial de gran relación de aspecto es muy eficiente en reducir fuertemente la SEE aparente o eficaz y esta propiedad es de la forma y no del tamaño. iii) la rugosidad superficial de gran relación de aspecto aumenta la resistencia superficial de RF pero esto es una propiedad de la forma y del tamaño. Reduciendo suficientemente el tamaño puede hacerse compatible (ii) y (iii). Para la obtención de dicho tipo de rugosidad superficial en el material mejor conductor y de referencia en la industria espacial, Ag electrodepositada, se propuso realizar una amplia y concienzuda investigación en técnicas de micro y nano-estructuración de superficies. Otros objetivos eran desarrollar los recubrimientos y sus aplicaciones en dispositivos prácticos en estrecha colaboración con la industria espacial para satisfacer toda una serie de requerimientos industriales y económicos para su aplicación. Desarrollo del trabajo y metodología Este trabajo de investigación se ha desarrollado en dos grandes proyectos. Cada uno formado por un proyecto del Plan Nacional de I+D+i y otro paralelo de ESA. En ellos han colaborado el grupo de la UAM, el grupo de I. Montero en el ICMM del CSIC, la empresa Tesat Spacecom y ESTEC y VSC de ESA. En esta tesis se presenta el trabajo realizado por el doctorando en la UAM. El trabajo en el primer gran proyecto y tema principal de esta Tesis, tuvo varias etapas: Definición de las capas (materiales, tamaños, estructura, ..) del recubrimiento. Desarrollo de técnicas de preparación y caracterización de los procedimientos y los recubrimientos. Se investigaron más de diez técnicas de micro estructuración de superficies. Para la más prometedora se estudiaron nueve variantes, se prepararon unas cien muestras para estudiar más de cinco propiedades, además se prepararon nueve muestras preindustriales. La investigación fue tecnológica: el objetivo era alcanzar los resultados buscados en menos tiempo. El estudio científico de procesos y mecanismos estaba subordinado al método de la bisección o de ensayo y error. Definición de la técnica y procedimiento óptimo: grabado químico poroso y posterior mentalización con Au. Aplicación a cinco dispositivos industriales. Caracterización científica de los resultados. Caracterización tecnológica e industrial de los dispositivos tratados. Discusión y valoración de los resultados y propuestas para nuevas investigaciones. Los excelentes y novedosos resultados de este primer gran proyecto han permitido la realización de los proyectos siguientes. Estas propuestas dieron lugar al segundo gran proyecto también formado por dos proyectos paralelos realizados por los mismos grupos y centros. En este segundo gran proyecto se ha logrado mantener la práctica supresión del Multipactor alcanzada en el primero pero ahora con recubrimientos de conductividad óptima, la máxima posible, la de los recubrimientos de Ag lisos estándar de la industria. Para ello se han obtenido rugosidades superficiales especiales de escala 100 nm. En este proyecto se desarrolló una de las técnicas “descubiertas” en el proyecto anterior pero para la que no hubo suficiente recursos ni tiempo: grabado auto-organizado con haces de iones asistido por deposición de máscara-surfactante por sputtering