HABITAT: An IoT solution for independent elderly

In this work, a flexible and extensive digital platform for Smart Homes is presented, exploiting the most advanced technologies of the Internet of Things, such as Radio Frequency Identification, wearable electronics, Wireless Sensor Networks, and Artificial Intelligence. Thus, the main novelty of the paper is the system-level description of the platform flexibility allowing the interoperability of different smart devices. This research was developed within the framework of the operative project HABITAT (Home Assistance Based on the Internet of Things for the Autonomy of Everybody), aiming at developing smart devices to support elderly people both in their own houses and in retirement homes, and embedding them in everyday life objects, thus reducing the expenses for healthcare due to the lower need for personal assistance, and providing a better life quality to the elderly users.In this work, a flexible and extensive digital platform for Smart Homes is presented, exploiting the most advanced technologies of the Internet of Things, such as Radio Frequency Identification, wearable electronics, Wireless Sensor Networks, and Artificial Intelligence. Thus, the main novelty of the paper is the system-level description of the platform flexibility allowing the interoperability of different smart devices. This research was developed within the framework of the operative project HABITAT (Home Assistance Based on the Internet of Things for the Autonomy of Everybody), aiming at developing smart devices to support elderly people both in their own houses and in retirement homes, and embedding them in everyday life objects, thus reducing the expenses for healthcare due to the lower need for personal assistance, and providing a better life quality to the elderly users

Identification of the Bovine Arachnomelia Mutation by Massively Parallel Sequencing Implicates Sulfite Oxidase (SUOX) in Bone Development

Arachnomelia is a monogenic recessive defect of skeletal development in cattle. The causative mutation was previously mapped to a ∼7 Mb interval on chromosome 5. Here we show that array-based sequence capture and massively parallel sequencing technology, combined with the typical family structure in livestock populations, facilitates the identification of the causative mutation. We re-sequenced the entire critical interval in a healthy partially inbred cow carrying one copy of the critical chromosome segment in its ancestral state and one copy of the same segment with the arachnomelia mutation, and we detected a single heterozygous position. The genetic makeup of several partially inbred cattle provides extremely strong support for the causality of this mutation. The mutation represents a single base insertion leading to a premature stop codon in the coding sequence of the SUOX gene and is perfectly associated with the arachnomelia phenotype. Our findings suggest an important role for sulfite oxidase in bone development

Plan Cordillerano. Informe Final. Zona Infiernillo, Área de Reserva N°26. Provincia de Mendoza, República Argentina

Fil: Fuschini, Mario C. Ministerio de Defensa. Dirección General de Fabricaciones Militares; Argentina. Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarroll

On the Efficiency of Load Modulation in RFID Systems Operating in Real Environment

The performance of UHF-RFID systems are particularly exposed to environmental effects, such as multipath propagation and electromagnetic coupling. This sensitivity to the electromagnetic properties of the environment is peculiar of systems operating in the UHF band and therefore hasn\u2019t been completely investigated, since many RFID systems still work at HF frequencies. In this paper, the possible impairments due to the most usual environmental effects are considered, with particular reference to the impact on the bit error rate (BER) at the reader side in the Uplink stage of the RFID system

Sistemi DVB per ricezione handheld

Lo scenario atteso dall\u2019introduzione dello standard DVB-H \ue8 quello che associa le peculiarit\ue0 della trasmissione televisiva tradizionale ad elementi specifici dei terminali portatili: mobilit\ue0, display e antenne pi\uf9 piccole, copertura in luoghi chiusi e affidabilit\ue0 della batteria. L\u2019implementazione del DVB-H consente infatti di ridurre il consumo di potenza del terminale e offre la possibilit\ue0 di implementare un hand-over seamless. I dati in burst vengono inviati utilizzando una bit-rate significativamente superiore rispetto a quella di un meccanismo tradizionale di streaming, permettendo al ricevitore di essere attivo solo per una frazione di tempo (incremento della durata media della batteria). Inoltre \ue8 possibile monitorare le celle adiacenti durante il tempo intercorrente tra due burst successivi, consentendo quindi il passaggio da uno stream all\u2019altro durante gli off-period (seamless handover). In questo scenario di convergenza tra informatica e telecomunicazioni le emittenti digitali terrestri potranno ritrasmettere il proprio palinsesto su palmari e smartphone; l\u2019apparecchio televisivo si trasformer\ue0 quindi in una piattaforma multimediale per lo sviluppo di servizi interattivi, necessariamente indipendente dall\u2019usuale ricezione fissa tramite l\u2019accesso condominiale

Electromagnetic and System level Co-simulation for RFID Radio Link modeling in Real Environment

The recent widespread diffusion of radio-frequency identification (RFID) applications operating in the UHF band have been supported by both the request for greater interrogation ranges and larger and faster data exchange. UHF-RFID systems, exploiting a physical interaction based on Electromagnetic propagation, introduce many problems that have not been explored (or only partially) for the previous generations of RFID systems (e.g. HF). Therefore, the availability of reliable tools for modelling and evaluating the radio-communication between Reader and Tag within an RFID radio-link are needed. The paper discuss the impact of real environment (e.g. Electromagnetic Coupling, Multipath propagation) on system performance in terms of error-probability and received powers, showing some relevant effects and trade-offs in transponder and reader design