Comparison of blockchain implementations using a register of inquiries

The thesis presents and compares two implementations of blockchain technology. The comparison is based on a register of insights into personal data, as an example use case. The register enables various institutions and companies to have better control, as well as a cleaner overview of insight into personal data of their customers from within their computer systems. Additionally, it helps users towards compliance with the new GDPR regulation regarding personal data. Blockchain technology is becoming increasingly popular, mainly influenced by the rise of cryptocurrencies, which were the first to implement this technology. In the thesis we take a look into the technology, its design, properties, capabilities as well as pros and cons. There is a more detailed focus on two main implementations, the Ethereum and Hyperledger Fabric platforms, with comparison and description of our application

Comparison of blockchain implementations using a register of inquiries

The thesis presents and compares two implementations of blockchain technology. The comparison is based on a register of insights into personal data, as an example use case. The register enables various institutions and companies to have better control, as well as a cleaner overview of insight into personal data of their customers from within their computer systems. Additionally, it helps users towards compliance with the new GDPR regulation regarding personal data. Blockchain technology is becoming increasingly popular, mainly influenced by the rise of cryptocurrencies, which were the first to implement this technology. In the thesis we take a look into the technology, its design, properties, capabilities as well as pros and cons. There is a more detailed focus on two main implementations, the Ethereum and Hyperledger Fabric platforms, with comparison and description of our application

History and present state of the Slano Blato landslide

The Slano Blato landslide is more than 1290 m long, 60 to 200 m wide and 3 to 11 m deep with a volume of about 700 000 m(3). It is located in the Eocene flysch region of western Slovenia with a limestone overthrust in the direct vicinity, above the landslide. The landslide moves mainly as a viscous earth flow with occurrences of rapid mud flows. In dry periods or in freezing conditions it behaves as a group of several slow to moderate landslides. The landslide follows the course of the Grajscek stream and is presently only 220 m away from Lokavec village. The landslide was first mentioned about 200 years ago. In 1887 it flowed as a liquid flow and reached and destroyed the main road in the valley 2 km away. The Austro-Hungarian monarchy sent one engineer to the site and 17 years later the slide was remediated with a series of torrential check dams. The monarchy prohibited any construction works in the influence, area of the landslide. During the 20th century the region changed from Austrian, Italian, Yugoslav, and finally to Slovenian government in 1991. The relevant Austrian measures and decisions were forgotten during the course of the years, and building permits were issued after the World War II to local people who populated the part of the landslide influence area. Simultaneously, regular maintenance of the excellent past engineering works was neglected. In November 2000 a large landslide of mud and debris was triggered again and it still presents a danger to the relatively new residential houses today. At present, the village is protected against mudflows by a small rockfill dam and by the regulation of the stream bed. In rainy periods removal of mud is necessary to maintain safe conditions for the village. The paper discusses the geological, hydrogeological, hydrological and geotechnical conditions for the occurrence of the Slano Blato landslide. The primary reasons for the Slano blato landslide are the geological and hydrogeological conditions just beneath the overthrust of a Triassic limestone plateau over the Eocene flysch of Vipava valley. The direct reason for triggering the earth flow in 2000 was the intensive precipitation. During the course of years the precipitation threshold for earth flow movements has diminished. The landslide has to be remediated for two main reasons (1) the village below the landslide is endangered, and (2) the landslide is still advancing retrogressively and laterally. The foreseen permanent remediation measures that are currently under construction are briefly presented

Improved Process for the Synthesis of 3-(3-Trifluoromethylphenyl)propanal for More Sustainable Production of Cinacalcet HCl

Cinacalcet (I), sold as hydrochloride salt, is a calcimimetic drug which has been approved for the treatment of secondary hyperparathyroidism in patients with chronic renal disease and for the treatment of hypercalcemia in patients with parathyroid carcinoma. Here, an improved method for the synthesis of 3-(3-trifluoromethylphenyl)propanal (II), a key intermediate for the preparation of I, is described. The protocol required a Mizoroki–Heck cross-coupling reaction between 1-bromo- 3-(trifluoromethyl)benzene and acroleine diethyl acetal, catalyzed by Pd(OAc)2 in the presence of nBu4NOAc (tetrabutylammonium acetate), followed by the hydrogenation reaction of the crude mixture of products in a cascade process. Palladium species, at the end of the reaction, were efficiently recovered as Pd/Al2O3. The procedure was developed under conventional heating conditions as well as under microwave-assisted conditions. The obtained mixture of 1-(3,3-diethoxypropyl)-3- (trifluoromethyl)benzene (III), impure for ethyl 3-(3-trifluoromethylphenyl) propanoate (IV), was finally treated, under mild conditions, with potassium diisobutyl-tert-butoxyaluminum hydride (PDBBA) to obtain after hydrolysis 3-(3-trifluoromethylphenyl)propanal (II), in an excellent overall yield and very high purity. Microwave conditions permitted a reduction in reaction times without affecting selectivity and yield. The final API was obtained through reductive amination of (II) with (R)-(+)-1-(1-naphthyl)ethylamine (V) using a catalyst prepared by us with a very low content of precious metal

Two-stage adaptive enhancement of a low-quality fingerprint image on the basis of contextual information

Izboljšanje slike prstnega odtisa je ključni korak v sistemu samodejnega prepoznavanja prstnih odtisov (angl. Automatican Fingerprint System - AFIS). Zaradi slabe kvalitete prstnega odtisa lahko algoritem izločanja značilk nepravilno izloči značilke, ki nato vplivajo na nepravilno ujemanje prstnih odtisov in posledično na neučinkovito prepoznavo oseb na podlagi prstnih odtisov. Tehnike izboljšanja slike prstnega odtisa temeljijo na izboljšanju v prostorski ter frekvenčni domeni ali pa kombinaciji obeh. V doktorski disertaciji je definiran postopek dvostopenjskega adaptivnega izboljšanja slike prstnega odtisa nizke kvalitete s kontekstnimi filtri, uporabljenimi na prvi stopnji (v prostorski domeni) in dodatno na drugi stopnji (v frekvenčni domeni). Kontekstne filtre uvrščamo med usmerjene filtre, ki so krmiljeni na osnovi kontekstnih informacij (frekvenca in orientacija lokalnega grebena) v sliki prstnega odtisa. Ti filtri lahko spreminjajo strukturo grebena in dolin, kar pomeni, da lahko povežejo prekinjene grebene oz. ločijo povezane grebene. Vendar pa je potrebno pred izboljšanjem slike prstnega odtisa s kontekstnimi filtri najprej izboljšati kontrast in čitljivost slike z neusmerjenimi filtri. V ta namen smo definirali blokovno lokalno normalizacijo, ki jo optimiziramo adaptivno glede na spremembo intenzitete sivine v originalni sliki prstnega odtisa. Za potrebe kontekstnega izboljšanja na prvi stopnji smo predstavili dve tehniki izboljšanjausmerjeno linearna anizotropično difuzijo in usmerjeno kompenzacijo lokalnega grebena, ki smo jo prav tako optimizirali z adaptivnim spreminjanjem velikosti maske glede na stopnjo intenzitete sivine v originalni sliki prstnega odtisa. Za potrebe krmiljenja usmerjenega difuzijskega filtra smo orientacijo grebena na osnovi gradienta dodatno izboljšali in definirali usmerjeno polje. Na drugi stopnji sliko prstnega odtisa dodatno izboljšamo s kratkočasovno Fourierjevo transformacijo. Dvostopenjski adaptivni algoritem učinkovito izboljša sliko prstnega odtisa v primerjavi z najsodobnejšimi algoritmi. Eksperimentalni rezultati, izvedeni na javno dostopni bazi prstnih odtisov FVC, so potrdili uspešnost definiranega postopkaFingerprint enhancement is a key step in the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS). Because of poor quality of fingerprint image, the algorithm for feature extraction may extract features incorrectly, which may lead to incorrect fingerprint matching and consequently to inefficient fingerprint-based identity verification. Techniques of fingerprint image enhancement are based on improvement in the spatial domain, frequency domain, or a combination of both. This thesis presents a two-stage adaptive enhancement of a low quality fingerprint image with contextual filtersinitially in the first stage (spatial domain) and additionally in the second stage (frequency domain). Contextual filters are directional filters which are controlled by contextual information of the fingerprint image (local ridge frequency and orientation). These filters can change ridge structures by connecting disconnected ridges and separating connected ridges. However, before improving the fingerprint image with contextual filters, it is necessary to first improve contrast and readability of the fingerprint image with non-directional filters. For this purpose block-local normalization was used, which was optimized adaptively according to original image intensity information. Two methods of enhancement are presented to enhance context information in the first stage: oriented linear anisotropic diffusion and oriented local compensation filter, where the size of the mask is optimized adaptively according to the degree of intensity in the original fingerprint image. For the purposes of control of the oriented diffusion filter, ridge orientation was additionally improved on the basis of the gradient, so that we got a defined orientation field. In the second stage the fingerprint image was additionally enhanced with short-time Fourier transform. Adaptive two-stage algorithm effectively enhances the fingerprint image in comparison to some other state-of-the-art algorithms. Experimental results were obtained on a public fingerprint database FV

Development of a method for quantitation of cannabidiol, tetrahydrocannabinol and their selected metabolites in human blood plasma

Kanabidiol (CBD) in ?9-tetrahidrokanabinol (THC) sta dva kanabinoida iz konoplje, ki pri strokovni javnosti vzbujata vse več zanimanja za njuno terapevtsko uporabo. Glavni namen magistrske naloge je bil razviti metodo za merjenje koncentracij CBD, THC, 11-hidroksi-THC (THC-OH) in 11-karboksi-THC (THC-COOH) v človeški krvni plazmi, ki bo ustrezala namenom klinične študije zdravljenja refraktarne epilepsije pri otrocih. Med razvojem priprave vzorca smo preizkusili 5 različnih tekočinskih ekstrakcij, 18 vrst kartuš za ekstrakcijo na trdnem nosilcu, 1 filter in 2 kartuši za podprto tekočinsko ekstrakcijo. Med vsemi se je za najustreznejšo izkazala ekstrakcija tekoče-tekoče z zmesjo topil heksana in etilacetata v razmerju 9 : 1. LC-MS/MS metodo smo razvili s tekočinskim kromatografom sklopljenim s tandemskim kvadrupolnim masnim spektrometrom. Analite smo kromatografsko ločili z gradientnim programom z 0,2 mM amonijevim fluoridom in acetonitrilom na analitski koloni Kinetex C18 (50 mm × 2,1 mm, 2,6 µm). Umeritvene krivulje smo pripravili z osmimi kalibratorji v območju 1–100 µg/L za THC in 6–100 µg/L za THC-OH ter z desetimi kalibratorji v območju 1–1000 µg/L za CBD in 2,5–1000 µg/L za THC-COOH. Kot interne standarde smo uporabljali izotopno označene analoge analitov: CBD-d3, THC-d3 in THC-COOH-d3. Z namenom preverjanja selektivnosti analizne metode smo poskušali z jetrno S9 frakcijo in vitro pripraviti metabolite CBD, predvsem 7-karboksi-CBD, ki komercialno ni bil dostopen. Analizno metodo smo vrednotili po smernicah za validacijo bioanaliznih metod. Točnost in ponovljivost sta bili pri CBD, THC in THC-COOH v območju 88–110 % ter 1,1–8,1 %, pri THC-OH pa v območju 97–117 % ter 2,0–15,8 %. Vzorce lahko z redčenjem točno in ponovljivo analiziramo do 5-kratnika zgornje meje kvantifikacije. Stabilnost analitov v plazmi smo dokazali za 17 dni pri –80 °C, tri cikle zamrzovanja in odtajanja, štiri ure pri sobni temperaturi in 36 ur v avtomatskem vzorčevalniku pri 10 °C. Pri CBD, THC in THC-COOH smo dokazali odsotnost relativnega učinka matrice. Razvita metoda za namene klinične študije omogoča merjenje CBD v plazmi v koncentracijskem območju 1–5000 µg/L, THC 1–500 µg/L, THC-COOH 2,5–5000 µg/L in THC-OH 6–500 µg/L.Cannabidiol (CBD) and Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) are two cannabinoids from cannabis that are of increasing medical interest to professional public. The main aim of master’s thesis was to develop a method for quantitation of CBD, THC, 11-hydroxy-THC (THC-OH) and 11-carboxy-THC (THC-COOH) in human blood plasma, which would be fit for purpose of a clinical study studying treatment of refractory epilepsy in children. During method development we tested 5 different liquid-liquid extractions, 18 kinds of solid phase extractions, 1 filter and 2 supported liquid extractions. The most optimal was liquid-liquid extraction with hexane and ethyl acetate in 9 to 1 ratio. LC-MS/MS method was developed with liquid chromatograph with tandem triple quadrupole mass spectrometer. Chromatographic separation was achieved on Kinetex C18 column (50 mm × 2.1 mm, 2.6 μm) using a gradient comprising of 0.2 mM ammonium fluoride and acetonitrile. Calibration curves were prepared with eight calibrators 1–100 μg/L for THC and 6–100 μg/L for THC-OH and with ten calibrators 1–1000 μg/L for CBD and 2.5–1000 μg/L for THC-COOH. Isotopically labeled analogs were used as internal standards: CBD d3, THC-d3 and THC-COOH-d3. To prove method selectivity we tried to prepare in vitro CBD metabolites, especially commercially unavailable 7-carboxy-CBD, with liver S9 fraction. Method was evaluated according to the guidelines for validation of bioanalytical methods. Accuracy and precision for CBD, THC in THC-COOH were between 88–110 % and 1.1–8.1 % and for THC-OH between 97–117 % and 2.0–15.8 %. Accurate and precise dilution integrity was up to 5 times the upper limit of quantification. Sample stability was proven for 17 days at –80 °C, three freeze and thaw cycles, four hours at room temperature and 36 hours in autosampler at 10 °C. Absence of relative matrix effect was proven for CBD, THC and THC-COOH. The method developed for the purpose of the clinical study allows the measurements of plasma CBD from 1 to 5000 μg/L, THC from 1 to 500 μg/L, THC-COOH from 2.5 to 5000 μg/L and THC-OH from 6 to 500 μg/L

Comparison of blockchain implementations using a register of inquiries

V diplomski nalogi skozi primer implementacije registra vpogledov v osebne podatke predstavimo in primerjamo dve implementaciji tehnologije verige blokov. Register vpogledov omogoča obdelovalcem osebnih podatkov večji nadzor nad zbranimi podatki in hkrati pomaga k izpoljnevanju nekaterih pogojev uredbe GDPR. Tehnologiji verige blokov se v zadnjem času posveča vse več pozornosti, glavni razlog pa je vse večje zanimanje za kriptovalute, katere so bile tudi prve, ki so uspešno implementirale to novo tehnologijo. V nalogi si pogledamo, kako je tehnologija zasnovana, kaj nam ponuja, osnovne lastnosti, prednosti in slabosti. Podrobneje predstavimo dve implementaciji, Ethereum in Hyperledger Fabric, ter prikažemo, kako smo jih umestili v našo aplikacijo, in ponudimo primerjavo med njima.The thesis presents and compares two implementations of blockchain technology. The comparison is based on a register of insights into personal data, as an example use case. The register enables various institutions and companies to have better control, as well as a cleaner overview of insight into personal data of their customers from within their computer systems. Additionally, it helps users towards compliance with the new GDPR regulation regarding personal data. Blockchain technology is becoming increasingly popular, mainly influenced by the rise of cryptocurrencies, which were the first to implement this technology. In the thesis we take a look into the technology, its design, properties, capabilities as well as pros and cons. There is a more detailed focus on two main implementations, the Ethereum and Hyperledger Fabric platforms, with comparison and description of our application

RECOGNITION OF TEXT IN DIGITAL VIDEO SIGNAL

V diplomskem delu smo predstavili postopek in izvedbo prepoznavanje besedila v digitalnem video signalu. Natančneje smo predstavili vse korake, ki so potrebni v fazi prepoznavanje besedila. Ti koraki so: zaznavanje in lokalizacija besedila, segmentacija in binarizacija besedila in na koncu še optično prepoznavanje znakov (OCR). V diplomskem delu smo opisali strojno in tudi programsko opremo, ki smo ju uporabili za prepoznavanje besedila v digitalnem video signalu.image processing, text detection and localization, segmentation and binarization, Sobel operator, OC

Efficiency analysis of compared normalization methods for fingerprint image enhancement

The efficiency of automated fingerprint identification system depends highly on fingerprint image enhancement algorithms. Fingerprint image enhancement canbe divided into two stages: 1) At the first stage we enhance the image withconventional filters, where filter parameters do not change. 2) At the second stage we enhance the structure of ridges and valleys with contextual filters, where filter parameters change according to pre-calculated ridge orientation and frequency. This article presents an efficiency analysis of compared methods at the first stage with global normalization, local normalization and block local normalization, attempts to find the most efficient combination and evaluates the effectiveness of analysed methods fromthe perspective of their use in real time fingerprint identification systems. In the experimental part we compared three different types of normalization algorithms for enhancing image contrast, and then in combinationwith the second enhancement stage (Gabor filter and STFT) we assessed the enhancement system\u27s effectiveness on database FVC2004