APPLICATION OF LASER SCANNING SURVEYING TO ROCK SLOPES RISK ASSESSMENT ANALYSIS

The methods for understanding rock instability mechanisms and for evaluating potential destructive scenarios are of great importance in risk assessment analysis dedicated to the establishment of appropriate prevention and mitigation actions. When the portion of the unstable rock mass is very large, effective actions to counteract the risks are complex and expensive. In these conditions, an optimal risk management cannot ignore procedures able to faster and accurately acquire i) geometrical data for modeling the geometry of the rock walls and implementing reliable forecasting models and ii) monitoring data able to describe the magnitude and the direction of deformation processes. These data contributes to the prediction of the behavior of a landslide if the measurements are acquired frequently and reliable numerical models can be implemented. Innovative geomatic techniques, based on GPS, Terrestrial Laser Scanning Surveying (TLS), automated total station and satellite and ground SAR Interferometry, have been recently applied to define the geometry and monitoring the displacements of unstable slopes. Among these, TLS is mainly adopted to generate detailed 3D models useful to reconstruct rock wall geometry by contributing to the estimation of geo-mechanical parameters, that is orientation, persistence and apparent spacing of rock discontinuities. Two examples of applications of TLS technique to the analysis of a large front in a quarry and of a rock shoulder of a dam are presented

A rule-based approach to implicit emotion detection in text

Most research in the area of emotion detection in written text focused on detecting explicit expressions of emotions in text. In this paper, we present a rule-based pipeline approach for detecting implicit emotions in written text without emotion-bearing words based on the OCC Model. We have evaluated our approach on three different datasets with five emotion categories. Our results show that the proposed approach outperforms the lexicon matching method consistently across all the three datasets by a large margin of 17–30% in F-measure and gives competitive performance compared to a supervised classifier. In particular, when dealing with formal text which follows grammatical rules strictly, our approach gives an average F-measure of 82.7% on “Happy”, “Angry-Disgust” and “Sad”, even outperforming the supervised baseline by nearly 17% in F-measure. Our preliminary results show the feasibility of the approach for the task of implicit emotion detection in written text

π-Conjugated Macrocycles Bearing Angle-Strained Alkynes

Angle‐strained alkyne‐containing π‐conjugated macrocycles are attractive compounds both in functional materials chemistry and biochemistry. Their interesting reactivity as well as photophysical and supramolecular properties have been revealed in the past three decades. This review highlights the recent advances in angle‐strained alkyne‐containing π‐conjugated macrocycles, especially their synthetic methods, the bond angles of alkynes (∠sp at C≡C−C), and their functions. The theoretical and experimental research on cyclo[n]carbons and para‐cyclophynes consisting of ethynylenes and para‐phenylenes are mainly summarized. Related macrocycles bearing other linkers, such as ortho‐phenylenes, meta‐phenylenes, heteroaromatics, biphenyls, extended aromatics, are also overviewed. Bond angles of strained alkynes in π‐conjugated macrocycles, which are generable, detectable, and isolable, are summarized at the end of this review

Creating and Capturing Artificial Emotions in Autonomous Robots and Software Agents

This paper presents ARTEMIS, a control system for autonomous robots or software agents. ARTEMIS is able to create and capture artificial emotions during interactions with its environment, and we describe the underlying mechanisms for this. The control system also realizes the capturing of knowledge about its past artificial emotions. A specific interpretation of a knowledge graph, called an Agent Knowledge Graph, represents these artificial emotions. For this, we devise a formalism which enriches the traditional factual knowledge in knowledge graphs with the representation of artificial emotions. As proof of concept, we realize a concrete software agent based on the ARTEMIS control system. This software agent acts as a user assistant and executes the user’s orders. The environment of this user assistant consists of autonomous service agents. The execution of user’s orders requires interaction with these autonomous service agents. These interactions lead to artificial emotions within the assistant. The first experiments show that it is possible to realize an autonomous agent with plausible artificial emotions with ARTEMIS and to record these artificial emotions in its Agent Knowledge Graph. In this way, autonomous agents based on ARTEMIS can capture essential knowledge that supports successful planning and decision making in complex dynamic environments and surpass emotionless agents

Generating socially appropriate tutorial dialog

Analysis of student-tutor coaching dialogs suggest that good human tutors attend to and attempt to influence the motivational state of learners. Moreover, they are sensitive to the social face of the learner, and seek to mitigate the potential face threat of their comments. This paper describes a dialog generator for pedagogical agents that takes motivation and face threat factors into account. This enables the agent to interact with learners in a socially appropriate fashion, and foster intrinsic motivation on the part of the learner, which in turn may lead to more positive learner affective states

ANCIENT MINING LANDSCAPES AND HABITATIVE SCENERIES IN THE URBAN AREA OF CENTOCELLE: GEOMATIC APPLICATIONS FOR THEIR IDENTIFICATION, MEASUREMENT, DOCUMENTATION AND MONITORING

This study, focused on the Archaeological Park of Centocelle, was carried out to test the functionality of different geomatic products for the identification and monitoring of complex archaeological evidences in urban areas. The method proposes a better knowledge of the archaeological context as a tool to favour a better protection, allowing the establishment of limits to urban enlargement in areas of respect. The test area is chosen because of the combined presence of hypogeal evidences related to Roman and pre-Roman exploitation of local litotypes and for the dense presence of archaeological vestiges at its surface, related to the inhabitation function of the zone in a period contemporaneous to the beginning of the quarrying activities. The methods used are the digital photogrammetry, 3D modelling, remote sensing interpretation and digital cartography. The protocol is then customized for the peculiarities of the area under study, considering both the underground structures and the ones at the surface. Archaeological features are identified by processing optical and SAR dataset to enhance the contrast of archaeological features from the background. Historical and recent DSM have been then compared to evaluate the evolutions of local topography. Concerning the study of the subterranean quarrying system in the area, a 3D model of one gallery was produced, with the aim to understand the type of ancient exploitation. A DTM of the toolmarks was then produced to understand the technological skills used for the exploitation of the local tuff and used as an indirect proof for chronological interpretation. A final trial of PSInSAR was addressed to test the method for monitoring the hypogeal levels. Several field prospections were executed, in order to first set the method properly and then validate the results

Terrestrial laser scanning survey in support of unstable slopes analysis. The case of Vulcano Island (Italy)

The capability to measure at distance dense cloud of 3D point has improved the relevance of geomatic techniques to support risk assessment analysis related to slope instability. This work focuses on quantitative analyses carried out to evaluate the effects of potential failures in the Vulcano Island (Italy). Terrestrial laser scanning was adopted to reconstruct the geometry of investigated slopes that is required for the implementation of numerical modeling adopted to simulate runout areas. Structural and morphological elements, which influenced past instabilities or may be linked to new events, were identified on surface models based on ground surveying. Terrestrial laser scanning was adopted to generate detailed 3D models of subvertical slopes allowing to characterize the distribution and orientation of the rock discontinuities that affect instability mechanism caused by critical geometry. Methods for obtaining and analyzing 3D topographic data and to implement simulation analyses contributing to hazard and risk assessment are discussed for two case studies (Forgia Vecchia slope and Lentia rock walls)

Navigating distance learning technologies using team teaching

In 2004, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) adopted the position to move the current level of preparation necessary for advanced practice nurse (APN) roles from the master\u27s degree to the doctoral level. AACN also called for educating APNs and other nurses seeking top leadership and clinical roles in Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Programs. In September 2007, the Jefferson School of Nursing welcomed its first cohort of 18 DNP students. Students represented a wide variety of practice specialties including acute care, primary care, healthcare administration, population health, education and industry. Twenty students comprise the second cohort entering in September 2008. Nationwide, Jefferson is one of 79 schools of nursing offering a DNP degree