Textural features for fingerprint liveness detection

The main topic ofmy research during these three years concerned biometrics and in particular the Fingerprint Liveness Detection (FLD), namely the recognition of fake fingerprints. Fingerprints spoofing is a topical issue as evidenced by the release of the latest iPhone and Samsung Galaxy models with an embedded fingerprint reader as an alternative to passwords. Several videos posted on YouTube show how to violate these devices by using fake fingerprints which demonstrated how the problemof vulnerability to spoofing constitutes a threat to the existing fingerprint recognition systems. Despite the fact that many algorithms have been proposed so far, none of them showed the ability to clearly discriminate between real and fake fingertips. In my work, after a study of the state-of-the-art I paid a special attention on the so called textural algorithms. I first used the LBP (Local Binary Pattern) algorithm and then I worked on the introduction of the LPQ (Local Phase Quantization) and the BSIF (Binarized Statistical Image Features) algorithms in the FLD field. In the last two years I worked especially on what we called the “user specific” problem. In the extracted features we noticed the presence of characteristic related not only to the liveness but also to the different users. We have been able to improve the obtained results identifying and removing, at least partially, this user specific characteristic. Since 2009 the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering of the University of Cagliari and theDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering of the ClarksonUniversity have organized the Fingerprint Liveness Detection Competition (LivDet). I have been involved in the organization of both second and third editions of the Fingerprint Liveness Detection Competition (LivDet 2011 and LivDet 2013) and I am currently involved in the acquisition of live and fake fingerprint that will be inserted in three of the LivDet 2015 datasets

Composizione corporea, nutrizione personalizzata e costo energetico della corsa: studio longitudinale su una popolazione di individui fisicamente attivi

Considering the relation between body weight-composition and energy cost of running, we tested the hypothesis that modifying body composition by means of a combined protocol of specific diet and training, the energy cost of motion (Cr) may be reduced. 45 healthy and normal-weight subjects were divided into three groups that performed a different treatment: the first group attended only a dietary protocol (D), the second only a running program (R) and the third both (R&D). Each subject underwent three anthropometric and exercise evaluation tests during one year (at T0, T6, T12) to assess body composition and Cr adjustments. The mean fat mass (FM) values were reduced in R&D from 12.0±4.0 to 10.4±3.0 kg (p<0.05 T0 vs. T12) and in the D group from 14.2±5.8 to 11.6±4.7 kg (p<0.05 T0 vs. T12). Conversely, the mean fat free mass values increased in R&D (from 56.3±8.8 to 58.3±9.8 kg, p<0.05 T0 vs. T12) and in the D group (from 50.6±13.2 to 52.9±13.6 kg, p<0.05 T0 vs. T12). The mean Cr values of the 2 groups were significantly modified throughout the one year protocol (1.48±0.16 and 1.40±0.15 kcal·kg-b·km-1 in the R&D group at T0 and T12 respectively; 1.83±0.17 and 1.76±0.23 kcal·kg-b·km-1 in D group at T0 to T12 respectively). The R&D and D groups that underwent the diet protocol had a positive change in body composition during the year (FM-fat free mass ratio decline) which determined a Cr reduction

More than protamines: Identification of further sperm proteins from which Prtl99C is essential for male fertility and full chromatin compaction in Drosophila melanogaster

Spermatogenesis is a highly conserved process that can be divided into three stages: pre-meiosis, meiosis and post-meiosis. At the end of the post-meiotic stage of spermatogenesis, a protamine rich spermatozoon is formed from a histone rich spermatid with round nucleus. During this stage, the chromatin is highly packed and the volume of the nucleus is remarkably reduced. Therefore, it is expectable that the poor packed chromatin within the sperm nuclei cannot protect the DNA properly against chemical and physical damage, potentially leading to mutations and infertility problems. In Drosophila, during the replacement process of histones by protamines several high mobility group-box (HMG-box) containing proteins are expressed. Our group previously identified Drosophila protamines being not essential for fertility in contrast to those of mice which cause sterility already in haplo-insufficiency. In both organisms, the compaction of the genome is very efficient despite of the mutated protamine genes. On the basis of these findings, we hypothesized that other proteins may act in functional redundancy or in an additive manner with protamines. For this reason, we searched for additional HMG-box-containing proteins which might play a role during chromatin condensation. We identified Prtl99C specifically expressed in male germ cells. We demonstrated with transgenic flies and with an antibody against Prtl99C that the protein persists until the mature sperm. Analysis of homozygous Prtl99C-ΔC sperm showed longer nuclei, indicating that the C-terminal region is required for chromatin compaction moreover affects male fertility. Knockdown of Prtl99C via RNA interference (RNAi) led also to elongation of the sperm nucleus region by about 35% yet the fertility was highly reduced. Whereas loss of protamines led to an 8% longer nucleus, deletion of both protamines and Prtl99C, led to an elongation of the sperm nucleus by 47%. Based on these findings, we proposed that many chromatin-binding proteins have a function in chromatin reorganization during spermatogenesis in favor of building a compacted male genome. The actual work presents for the first time a Drosophila sperm chromatin component that is essential for male fertility. The insights obtained from this study can help to understand in particular the condensation of the sperm genome carried out by several basic proteins. Lastly, we analyzed a comparative proteome approach to find more basic protein and identified a homolog to mammalian THEG as likely being essential for male fertility Drosophila

A Note on the Ichoua et al (2003) Travel Time Model.

In this paper we exploit some properties of the travel time model proposed by Ichoua et al (2003), on which most of the current time-dependent vehicle routing literature relies. Firstly, we prove that any continuous piecewise lin- ear travel time model can be generated by an appropriate Ichoua et al (2003) model. We also show that the model parameters can be obtained by solving a system of linear equations for each arc. Then such parameters are proved to be nonnegative if the continuous piecewise linear travel time model satis- es the FIFO property, which allows to interpret them as (dummy) speeds. Finally, we illustrate the procedure through a numerical example. As a by- product, we are able to link the travel time models of a road graph and the associated complete graph over which vehicle routing problems are usually formulated

Smart inverter operation in distribution networks with high penetration of photovoltaic systems

With the growing number and capacity of photovoltaic (PV) installations connected to distribution networks, power quality issues related to voltage regulation are becoming relevant problems for power distribution companies and for PV owners. In many countries, like Italy, this has required the revision of the standards concerning the connection to the public distribution network of distributed renewable generation. The new standards require a flexible operation of generation plants that have to be capable to change the active and reactive power dynamically in function of the network parameters (i.e. frequency and network local voltage) in local control or following external commands. Therefore, this paper investigates the use of smart inverter in a critical PV installation, where relevant voltage fluctuations exist. A case study, with real network parameters monitoring data and measurements, is discussed in the paper with the aim of showing how 'smart' features of new inverters can be implemented to increase PV plant integration in low voltage distribution networks

Recovering feasibility in real-time conflict-free vehicle routing

Conflict-Free Vehicle Routing Problems (CF-VRPs) arise in manufacturing, transportation and logistics facilities where Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) are utilized to move loads. Unlike \textit{Vehicle Routing Problems} arising in distribution management, CF-VRPs explicitly consider the limited capacity of the arcs of the guide path network to avoid collisions among vehicles. AGV applications have two peculiar features. First, the uncertainty affecting both travel times and machine ready times may result in vehicle delays or anticipations with respect to the fleet nominal plan. Second, the relatively high vehicle speed (in the order of one or two meters per second) requires vehicle plans to be revised in a very short amount of time (usually few milliseconds) in order to avoid collisions. In this paper we present fast exact algorithms to recover plan feasibility in real-time. In particular, we identify two corrective actions that can be implemented in real-time and formulate the problem as a linear program with the aim to optimize four common performance measures (total vehicle delay, total weighted delay, maximum route duration and total lateness). Moreover, we develop tailored algorithms which, tested on randomly generated instances of various sizes, prove to be three orders of magnitude faster than using off-the-shelf solvers

Renewable Energy Communities in Positive Energy Districts: A Governance and Realisation Framework in Compliance with the Italian Regulation

Renewable energy communities, first outlined in the European Directives and recently transposed into the Italian regulatory framework, are introduced as innovative entities capable of fostering cooperation between active and passive users involved in the production, sharing, and use of locally produced energy according to innovative management schemes. Renewable energy communities empower the end-customers. Citizens and legal entities are committed to a rational and economical use of energy to achieve the community’s climate neutrality goals and pursue the ecological and energy transition objectives defined in the national recovery and resilience plan. In the future, a significant number of energy communities different actors participating from the residential, industrial, commercial, and tertiary sectors are expected to develop within city districts or in suburban settings. This paper proposes and develops a methodology capable of bridging the complexity that can characterise the prototyping, implementation, and management of an energy community within a positive energy district. The approach presented here can also be extended to other application contexts in urban or rural settings. Requirements and best practices for administrative, technical, and technological management have been identified to achieve this goal. Italy is one of the first states to embed in its regulatory framework the European Directives regarding renewable energy communities. These will have a significant impact on network management models and will provide new ways for creating social inclusion that may help achieve climate sustainability goals. A governance model has been formalised for the empowerment of energy community members, outlining a framework useful for planning the proper implementation of a renewable energy community according to current Italian regulations

Probabilistic Model and Solution Algorithm for the Electricity Retailers in the Italian Market

The paper considers the problem of maximizing the profits of a retailer operating in the Italian electricity market. The problem consists in selecting the contracts portfolio and in defining the bidding strategy in the wholesales market while respecting the technical and regulatory constraints. A novel solution method based on a enhanced discovery of the search domain in the simulated annealing technique has been developed for its solution and a set of realistic test problems have been generated for its validation. The experimental results show that our method outperforms the standard simulated annealing by an improvement gap of 20,48% in average

On path ranking in time-dependent graphs

In this paper we study a property of time-dependent graphs, dubbed "path ranking invariance''. Broadly speaking, a time-dependent graph is "path ranking invariant'' if the ordering of its paths (w.r.t. travel time) is independent of the start time. In this paper we show that, if a graph is path ranking invariant, the solution of a large class of time-dependent vehicle routing problems can be obtained by solving suitably defined (and simpler) time-independent routing problems. We also show how this property can be checked by solving a linear program. If the check fails, the solution of the linear program can be used to determine a tight lower bound. In order to assess the value of these insights, the lower bounds have been embedded into an enumerative scheme. Computational results on the time-dependent versions of the extit{Travelling Salesman Problem} and the extit{Rural Postman Problem} show that the new findings allow to outperform state-of-the-art algorithms

LivDet in Action - Fingerprint Liveness Detection Competition 2019

The International Fingerprint liveness Detection Competition (LivDet) is an open and well-acknowledged meeting point of academies and private companies that deal with the problem of distinguishing images coming from reproductions of fingerprints made of artificial materials and images relative to real fingerprints. In this edition of LivDet we invited the competitors to propose integrated algorithms with matching systems. The goal was to investigate at which extent this integration impact on the whole performance. Twelve algorithms were submitted to the competition, eight of which worked on integrated systems.Comment: Preprint version of a paper accepted at ICB 201