Analysis of association football playing styles: an innovative method to cluster networks

In this work we develop an innovative hierarchical clustering method to divide a sample of undirected weighted networks into groups. The methodology consists of two phases: the first phase is aimed at putting the single networks in a broader framework by including the characteristics of the population in the data, while the second phase creates a subdivision of the sample on the basis of the similarity between the community structures of the processed networks. Starting from the representation of the team's playing style as a network, we apply the method to group the Italian Serie A teams' performances and consequently detect the main 15 tactics shown during the 2015-2016 season. The information obtained is used to verify the effect of the styles of play on the number of goals scored, and we prove the key role of one of them by implementing an extension of the Dixon and Coles model (Dixon and Coles, 1997)

SALSA: A Novel Dataset for Multimodal Group Behavior Analysis

Studying free-standing conversational groups (FCGs) in unstructured social settings (e.g., cocktail party ) is gratifying due to the wealth of information available at the group (mining social networks) and individual (recognizing native behavioral and personality traits) levels. However, analyzing social scenes involving FCGs is also highly challenging due to the difficulty in extracting behavioral cues such as target locations, their speaking activity and head/body pose due to crowdedness and presence of extreme occlusions. To this end, we propose SALSA, a novel dataset facilitating multimodal and Synergetic sociAL Scene Analysis, and make two main contributions to research on automated social interaction analysis: (1) SALSA records social interactions among 18 participants in a natural, indoor environment for over 60 minutes, under the poster presentation and cocktail party contexts presenting difficulties in the form of low-resolution images, lighting variations, numerous occlusions, reverberations and interfering sound sources; (2) To alleviate these problems we facilitate multimodal analysis by recording the social interplay using four static surveillance cameras and sociometric badges worn by each participant, comprising the microphone, accelerometer, bluetooth and infrared sensors. In addition to raw data, we also provide annotations concerning individuals' personality as well as their position, head, body orientation and F-formation information over the entire event duration. Through extensive experiments with state-of-the-art approaches, we show (a) the limitations of current methods and (b) how the recorded multiple cues synergetically aid automatic analysis of social interactions. SALSA is available at http://tev.fbk.eu/salsa.Comment: 14 pages, 11 figure

Friends don't lie: inferring personality traits from social network structure

In this work, we investigate the relationships between social network structure and personality; we assess the performances of different subsets of structural network features, and in particular those concerned with ego-networks, in predicting the Big-5 personality traits. In addition to traditional survey-based data, this work focuses on social networks derived from real-life data gathered through smartphones. Besides showing that the latter are superior to the former for the task at hand, our results provide a fine-grained analysis of the contribution the various feature sets are able to provide to personality classification, along with an assessment of the relative merits of the various networks exploited.European Commission (PERSI Project within the Marie Curie COFUND-FP7)Italy. Ministero dell'istruzione, dell'università e della ricerca (FIRB S-PATTERNS project

Analysis and validation of the 3D reconstructive process through the Extended Matrix Framework of the Temple of the Roman Forum of Nora (Sardinia, CA)

In this work, we will describe the application of the Extended Matrix Framework (EMF) to the 3D reconstruction of the temple on the Roman forum of Nora. EMF represents a specific section of the Extended Matrix (EM) method, developed by the VHLab of the CNR ISPC (Rome), dedicated to the development of software solutions for 3D data management in the field of virtual reconstruction. The combination of EM and EMF allows to: map the reconstructive process, validate the entire workflow (from data ingestion to 3D modelling), manage 3D data, and share outcomes online

The Stalemate between Causal and Constitutive Accounts of Introspective Knowledge by Acquaintance

This paper will be concerned with the role acquaintance plays in contemporary theories of introspection. Traditionally, the relation of acquaintance has been conceived in analytic epistemology and philosophy of mind as being only epistemically relevant inasmuch as it causes, or enables, or justifies a peculiar kind of propositional knowledge, i.e., knowledge by acquaintance. However, in recent years a novel account of the role of acquaintance in our introspective knowledge has been offered. According to this novel constitutive approach, acquaintance is, in itself, a sui generis—i.e., non-propositional—kind of knowledge. As we will suggest, a stalemate between David Chalmers’ account of direct phenomenal concepts—as a prototypical example of a causal view—and Anna Giustina’s account of primitive introspection—as a prototypical example of a constitutive view—is looming in the current controversy between the two families of theories. Towards the end of the essay, we will point to some possible ways for a constitutive theorist to break the stalemate

Encoding the infrared excess (IRX) in the NUVrK color diagram for star-forming galaxies

We present an empirical method of assessing the star formation rate (SFR) of star-forming galaxies based on their locations in the rest-frame color-color diagram (NUV-r) vs (r-K). By using the Spitzer 24 micron sample in the COSMOS field (~16400 galaxies with 0.2 < z < 1.3) and a local GALEX-SDSS-SWIRE sample (~700 galaxies with z = < L_IR / L_UV > can be described by a single vector, NRK, that combines the two colors. The calibration between and NRK allows us to recover the IR luminosity, L_IR, with an accuracy of ~0.21 dex for the COSMOS sample and ~0.27 dex for the local one. The SFRs derived with this method agree with the ones based on the observed (UV+IR) luminosities and on the spectral energy distribution fitting for the vast majority (~85 %) of the star-forming population. Thanks to a library of model galaxy SEDs with realistic prescriptions for the star formation history, we show that we need to include a two-component dust model (i.e., birth clouds and diffuse ISM) and a full distribution of galaxy inclinations in order to reproduce the behavior of the stripes in the NUVrK diagram. In conclusion, the NRK method, based only on rest-frame UV and optical colors available in most of the extragalactic fields, offers a simple alternative of assessing the SFR of star-forming galaxies in the absence of far-IR or spectral diagnostic observations.Comment: 21 pages, 22 figures, in publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic

Non-Intubated Thoracic Surgery: Standpoints and Perspectives

Non-intubated video-assisted thoracic surgery (NI-VATS) combines the advantages of a non-intubated surgery with the benefits of a minimally invasive approach. First, NI-VATS is performed in the case of fragile patients when general anesthesia and/or orotracheal intubation can be foreseen as inconvenient. However, NI-VATS indications have been increasingly extended to different patient conditions, considering the increasingly assessed safety and feasibility of the procedure. Currently, the NI-VATS approach is used worldwide for different thoracic surgery procedures, including the management of malignant pleural effusion, surgical treatment of empyema, anatomical and non-anatomical lung resection, and other indications. In fact, this approach has shown to be less impactful than VATS under general anesthesia, allowing for shortened hospitalization and faster recovery after surgery. Besides, NI-VATS is associated with fewer pulmonary complications, less respiratory distress, and a mild systemic inflammatory reaction. For these reasons, this approach should be considered not only in patients with poor cardiac or respiratory function (general functional reserve), but also in other eligible conditions. We explored the anesthetic and surgical aspects of such an approach, including the management of analgesia, cough reflex, depth of sedation, and intraoperative technical issues to put this approach in perspective

The FPGA based trigger and data acquisition system for the CERN NA62 experiment

The main goal of the NA62 experiment at CERN is to measure the branching ratio of the ultra-rare K+ → π+vv decay, collecting about 100 events to test the Standard Model of Particle Physics. Readout uniformity of sub-detectors, scalability, efficient online selection and lossless high rate readout are key issues. The TDCB and TEL62 boards are the common blocks of the NA62 TDAQ system. TDCBs measure hit times from sub-detectors, TEL62s process and store them in a buffer, extracting only those requested by the trigger system following the matching of trigger primitives produced inside TEL62s themselves. During the NA62 Technical Run at the end of 2012 the TALK board has been used as prototype version of the L0 Trigger Processor

What is in your cup of tea? DNA Verity Test to characterize black and green commercial teas

In this study, we used several molecular techniques to develop a fast and reliable protocol (DNA Verity Test, DVT) for the characterization and confirmation of the species or taxa present in herbal infusions. As a model plant for this protocol, Camellia sinensis, a traditional tea plant, was selected due to the following reasons: its historical popularity as a (healthy) beverage, its high selling value, the importation of barely recognizable raw product (i.e., crushed), and the scarcity of studies concerning adulterants or contamination. The DNA Verity Test includes both the sequencing of DNA barcoding markers and genotyping of labeled-PCR DNA barcoding fragments for each sample analyzed. This protocol (DVT) was successively applied to verify the authenticity of 32 commercial teas (simple or admixture), and the main results can be summarized as follows: (1) the DVT protocol is suitable to detect adulteration in tea matrices (contaminations or absence of certified ingredients), and the method can be exported for the study of other similar systems; (2) based on the BLAST analysis of the sequences of rbcL+matK±rps7-trnV(GAC) chloroplast markers, C. sinensis can be taxonomically characterized; (3) rps7-trnV(GAC) can be employed to discriminate C. sinensis from C. pubicosta; (4) ITS2 is not an ideal DNA barcode for tea samples, reflecting potential incomplete lineage sorting and hybridization/introgression phenomena in C. sinensis taxa; (5) the genotyping approach is an easy, inexpensive and rapid pre-screening method to detect anomalies in the tea templates using the trnH(GUG)-psbA barcoding marker; (6) two herbal companies provided no authentic products with a contaminant or without some of the listed ingredients; and (7) the leaf matrices present in some teabags could be constituted using an admixture of different C. sinensis haplotypes and/or allied species (C. pubicosta)